Full Circle from the High Road

You asked me how I felt,

after the year gone shipwreck

in the land of the malignant albatross,

and I could never answer you completely—

my chest too constricted, my voice,

mutilated and rasping in the wind.

You asked me how I felt,

and I have found words now,

though I have only wings for yesterday

fitted to fly in a sky I no longer believe in.

You asked me how I felt,

but I will hold my tongue

and watch patiently from my perch

the crow you will have to eat

nesting among wolfsbane and water hemlock,

while I am gaining strength to dip my feathers

and soar above the vultured horizon.

You asked me how I felt

and soon you’ll know

how it feels.

© 2013 Jennifer Wagner

For dVerse where Victoria has us writing anaphora poetry.

*wolfsbane and water hemlock are highly toxic plants.