vultures II
Jennifer MacBain-Stephens
I do not know the name for wing tipped flattery
but I understand the need for flight
This carnivorous bird is too
big for any right wing living.
It ignites chest tremors. I am a trail
of blacktop silence. The only bird
call I know is indignant scream.
Prey is fidgety marmoset.
Talons keep me up at night.
This raven tattooed on my back
stays away.
It’s not nevermore, never was,
Its beak won’t stop popping all my thought bubbles.
Jennifer MacBain-Stephens went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and now lives in the DC area. She is the author of two full length poetry collections (forthcoming.) Her chapbook “Clown Machine” is forthcoming from Grey Book Press this summer. Recent work can be seen or is forthcoming at Jet Fuel Review, Freezeray, The Birds We Piled Loosely, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Inter/rupture, Poor Claudia, and decomP. Visit: http://jennifermacbainstephens.wordpress.com/.