Elegy for a Flashback of Feathered Creatures​

2nd Place in the Poetry Writing Contest

Issue 19

Up for adoption, I carried my fears in a fixation
Of a chain-link lockdown, a sequestered steward
For a nanny dog with a stubborn affection for kids
A muscle-bound extrovert with flashbacks
 
Disregarding the men in blue who consoled
My mistrust in a hiding place for changelings
I was shackled to a phobia of shrewd brawlers
And I shuddered at the suggestion of a rebellion
 
Found high and pompous on their perch was where
They routinely ambushed meaty mortals with talons
Accused of first-degree cruelty, they struck without
Notice not soon enough after an insincere warning
 
In the damp morning I concocted a battle cry, oh
That raspy screech in the sanctuary of a live oak
Tree where birds of prey induced my heart to race
plunging fast and loose among drapes of moss
 
I did not expect to see mottled wings of aerial
Karma hunting nearby in a peripheral shadow
Concealing southern wingspans in the form
Of psychotic beasts with widespread wings
 
I was reassured by the care my foster friend when
I surprised myself when I froze and my caramel
Eyes stared from my spot, my territory, knowing
They counted every weave of fur that unfurled

I swore against all odds that I heard a fluttering
Swoop before it pulled out of a hungry dive
defying gravity and fast as a blur so I pulled on
my leash, sending me under the bed, just in case
 
I was betrayed by fear, forever deluded by visions of
Raving mad hawks and falcons like sociopaths of the air
That rattled me, real or not, though you knelt by my side
Stroking my backside as a promise of a trusted asylum
 
In my world I ruminated on my adoption and flimsy
Immunity when you offered me indemnity for the
Neurotic threat of becoming their next meal as they
Called hooah leaving me resigned to my suspicions

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KENNETH BOYD won 2nd Place in the Poetry Writing Contest. He is an award-winning writer, a neurodivergent poet, and former jazz musician. He is disabled but uses his perspective to enrich his writing. As an emerging writer, his poetry appears in the Burningword Literary Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, Wayfarer Magazine, Empyrean Literary Magazine, eMerge Magazine, Flora Fiction, Unlost Journal, and elsewhere. Grasshopper Dreams (2023) is his debut poetry collection. Kenneth is a graduate of the UCLAx Creative Writing Program and a former Assistant Poetry Editor at Southland Alibi magazine. He embraces life in the South and is inspired by fine jazz, fine art, fine cigars, and fine pork pie hats.

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