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.