Poetry

pixabay photo

By

Crystal Stone

The Woman at the Airport with the Emotional Support Peacock

Because he couldn’t fly as far as he wanted to

Because he grew up with a big body and small wings

Because she needed something louder than her anxiety with 150 eyes on his feathers to stare

Because she heard it was good luck

Because sometimes, when he sleeps, she steals the tail feathers he sheds for new earrings

Because he left his party to live with her in the Jersey snow

Because one time, in high school, the cheer captain told her she’d never make anyone laugh

Because she could afford it, even though they said no

Because she wanted an animal that would outlive the husband she couldn’t find and his dog

Because she heard royal families used to keep them

Because his tail feathers added heights her heels could not

Because she couldn’t yet weave the feathers into an iridescent crown

Don’t Panic

Canadians have seen it before. There are human

feet washing on the beach in Vancouver. Whose body

nobody knows. We’re told not to worry. My morning

hair has knots large enough to reel in answers, but I’m too

far to reach the cold waters today. A friend tells me

enough, stop the poems, let the metaphor go.

But it’s not a metaphor this time, it’s the truth:

shoes protect the feet from decomposing. The body

separates, naturally. I imagine the brain wants distance

from the places it traveled. The feet keep moving.

The feet are light and durable. The feet are picnic guests

of the winter snow, but instead of steel-toed Timberlands

or suede L. L. Beans or fur-lined Uggs, they wear

Nike running shoes, the pink kind, and don’t run.

Crystal Stone

My work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Writers Resist, Drunk Monkeys, Coldnoon, Poets Reading the News, Jet Fuel Review, Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle, North Central Review, Badlands Review, Green Blotter, Southword Journal Online and Dylan Days. I am currently pursuing my MFA at Iowa State University.