“what you have left”
Book Excerpt: Bright Along the Body
what you have left
is all birds, in the end
it’s throwing the birds with ham fist
throwing then
shooting
feather explosion shimmering frisson
of blue red black tawny feathers
& tiniest bones look look look
bird bones they’re not like my bones
even a little bit or the bones of anyone i know so
fragile so delicate you knit
with them tiny needles you pierce
your daughter’s ears, if you had a daughter
but what you have is a handful of birds
and your heart the rifle
your tongue licks the ground like a plate
taste all the feathers
and bloody clay
Ashley Roach-Freiman is a librarian and poet from Memphis. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Bone Bouquet, Fugue, THRUSH Poetry Journal, Southern Women’s Review, The Literary Review, Ghost Proposal, and Nightjar Review.
