They say it might have been lightning, maybe hail. It might have been fireworkson New Year’s Eve, drunken truckers boot-snuffing the smouldering matches.Somehow, they all died. A quick airborne heart-stop–engines turned off. Wind plucked feathers from wings twisting maniacally, marionettes cut loose from their strings–some skyward cemetery gutted open, raining onto cars, small thuds on…
Tag: Animals
The Derelict
From under the bridge she watched the patrol boat scud upstream, leaving on the river a long scar. She loathed these boats, sly in the water and always talking, loud-speakers squawking. She gathered spit and slugged it into the mud. It sat on top of the scummy layer of ice, glistening. Winter was a fist…
Flight
Confronted by the dusty outline of a bird hitting the glass, wings spread into a wide quarter-moon, feather marks still visible where it struck—This is enough to ruin everything. This is enough to press “Stop” and rewind your song indefinitely, but then you start thinking: If you had to be a bird, you would be…
Crows
I glanced back into our pickup’s bed. Light was fading, and I couldn’t fight the urge. Don’t, my father said. An unanchored end of our tarp rippled beneath the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Hammond. The Hammonds had worked the land alongside ours for five generations. Mrs. Hammond sang first soprano in the church choir….