How would my mother prepare me?—
slice my neck off before severing my wings
at the first joint, hang me upside down at eye
level, a snapping motion against the grain.
My bronze feathers fall like baby hair, she
continues until clean, until I am inside
this bag that grows tighter every year.
Brittany Helmick is a Pacific Northwest native and MFA candidate in the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program. She was a 2019 Sustainable Arts Award finalist. Her work has appeared in Manastash, Akron Life Magazine, The Journal of American Language, Project Muse, and at Empty Mirror.
Comments