{"id":3084,"date":"2018-10-12T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridareview.cah.ucf.edu\/?post_type=article&p=3084"},"modified":"2018-10-12T12:00:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T12:00:42","slug":"the-painted-skulls-held-by-wings-glistened-in-rain","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-painted-skulls-held-by-wings-glistened-in-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"The Painted Skulls, Held by Wings, Glistened in Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>There is shadow
\n\u00a0<\/span>of a sparrow
\n\u00a0<\/span>left on the window ledge
\n\u00a0<\/span>weeks after the poor bird
\n\u00a0<\/span>had been removed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sun melted
\n\u00a0<\/span>a permanent silhouette, tufts
\n\u00a0<\/span>of feathers, and a faint point
\n\u00a0<\/span>of beak still visible
\n\u00a0<\/span>with three days of rain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Something is wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I had a dream
\n\u00a0<\/span>where I said
\n\u00a0<\/span>this is a dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I’m certain
\n\u00a0<\/span>no one noticed
\n\u00a0<\/span>except my father
\n\u00a0<\/span>who knew I’d try
\n\u00a0<\/span>the salted rhubarb
\n\u00a0<\/span>and pomegranate seeds
\n\u00a0<\/span>that wept on my fingers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Beets turn
\n <\/span>into sugar sweetly
\n\u00a0<\/span>on the verge of burn and
\n\u00a0<\/span>I am guilty with happiness
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>of a kind,
\n\u00a0<\/span>where I survive<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>as a bird,<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>an egret
\n\u00a0<\/span>strange and white as my
\n\u00a0<\/span>father’s mustache, a telltale
\n\u00a0<\/span>for his murdered brother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t say
\n\u00a0<\/span>I’m happy,
\n\u00a0<\/span>a sort of guilty luck
\n\u00a0<\/span>that I love because it fleets
\n\u00a0<\/span>never follows, ripe to the point of rot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>What if nothing moves
\n\u00a0<\/span>still as sleep and my breath
\n\u00a0<\/span>is not enough?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I dream I am
\n\u00a0<\/span>as steel as a swallow
\n\u00a0<\/span>brazen head near bow and drink
\n\u00a0<\/span>its forked tail a salute
\n\u00a0<\/span>between death and habit.
\nThe definition of egret
\n\u00a0<\/span>is wrong,
\n\u00a0<\/span>if I don’t hold
\n\u00a0<\/span>the long legs in absolute stillness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Tonight, I find a cat
\n\u00a0<\/span>near the shore. Let him eat,
\n\u00a0<\/span>he will eat, he will return to
\n\u00a0<\/span>animal, not pet. I say, here
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>kitty, kitty. He reveals his belly
\n\u00a0<\/span>to me and all who continue to pass.
\n\u00a0<\/span>I have met people like this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Three egrets stretch
\n\u00a0<\/span>above me in an arm full of rain
\n\u00a0<\/span>I am older now than my Uncle
\n\u00a0<\/span>dead at 36
\nall of history caught
\n\u00a0<\/span>in those white wings.
\n\u00a0<\/span>He too was killed for his
\n\u00a0<\/span>feathers, a plume of decoration
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>in a woman’s hat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is shadow \/ of a sparrow . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3085,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[6,37,861,862],"class_list":["post-3084","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry","tag-aquifer-the-florida-review-online","tag-hispanic-heritage-month","tag-monica-rico","tag-the-painted-skulls-held-by-wings-glistened-in-rain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Painted Skulls, Held by Wings, Glistened in Rain - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-painted-skulls-held-by-wings-glistened-in-rain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Painted Skulls, Held by Wings, Glistened in Rain - 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