Flutter, Kick by Anna V.Q. Ross

Author:Anna V.Q. Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636280868
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Pastoral

Alarm call of gull in the Ikea parking garage,

and I turn, expecting claws, to find only beams

and ceiling pipes. Then a starling screams

by the red-lit E of the entrance sign, but no wing startles,

and as the gull circles once more,

I hear it for what it is—a loop to scare other birds

from settling their mess of sticks and straw

in this concrete box store built on drained swamp.

We load our packages into the hatchback

and follow signs out to the highway, where hawks—

real ones—roost in the verges,

on our way back home, where you’ll make the coffee

and I’ll scan the latest headlines and ads

for Bulletproof School Supplies and Bodyguard Blankets.

In the pictures, rows of six-year-olds hunch

beneath tunnels of bright red padded mats

just like the Greeks and Romans once locked their shields,

a company exec explains. My coffee’s cold,

our discount furniture, still packed, is stacked

against the wall, as bird cries accumulate in sky

above our yard. It’s nearly time to walk outside

to meet the flocks of black and yellow

school buses returning down our street,

make dinner, call the kids in to eat.

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