Jackie Sherbow
Your claws were sharper than
I’d expected, but your beak
was small and pale—almost
delicate. Your call was
quiet but insistent.
Outside was the most
constant thunder I’d ever
heard. You woke me up
and I worried for you,
out in the storm.
The rain slicked off
your oily wings.
you found shelter
in my bedside table.
I wanted you to leave.
In the morning, the air
had turned blue and you
had turned into a stomach ache
flying by me as I walked,
at waist level. You’re always
in orbit around me; I can predict
your path. I break into a jog
to shake you.
***
Jackie Sherbow is a writer and editor living in New York. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Okay Donkey, Moonchild Magazine, Bad Pony, Luna Luna, Day One, The Opiate, and elsewhere, and have been part of the Emotive Fruition performance series. She works as an editor for two leading mystery-fiction magazines as well as Newtown Literary, the literary journal dedicated to the borough of Queens, NY.