Jennifer Patino

Carrie

Empty beak speak,
silence can seem so deafening

Sleep, sweet,
tomorrow stings…

Watch how I attempt

to balance inflated eggs

upon my last spoon.

There’s no better time than a lockdown to rediscover your love for an old cartoon you watched as a child.

When I was in the state of erosion —

— things were ok

Why keep ourselves so constricted to something as meaningless as a clock right now?

The room holds its breath
as slate blue mother rises
to this glorious occasion

dawn rises
singing her canticles,
touches the killing fields

I am clinging to
memories of
blue parakeets
lullaby-ing me
to sleep

Glacier blue walls
and the autumn
scent of spiced apples…
means I’ve woken
up in Michigan.

the dancers become flames
devouring my heart