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Nothing is right.
The bird I thought was made of glass is turning to ash.
I shouldn't have given her away like that;
strangers' hands are deserts,
white salt flats under a dazzling sky,
with nowhere to hide while still in one piece.

It's better this way.

She always comes back a dogeared book.
A chipped thrift store figurine that never flew.
Grandma's-house dust on her wings,
soft and suffocating and almost sweet.
Her leftover song a discordant nightmare,
drilling into what's left of my brain
like a woodpecker beak on a goldfinch body
that can't bear the strain.

It's better this way

She no longer fits inside my chest where she belongs,
or maybe she never fit in the first place.
Or maybe it's me who's changed shape,
my ribcage a crucible too hot to hold her.
Perhaps we're old lovers, each grown too much to recognize the other,
and it's time for one or both of us to fly free.

It's better this way.



A.Z. Louise was a participant in the Winter Tangerine 2016 Summer Workshop.  Her poetry has previously been published in Wizards in Space Literary Magazine.

Current Issue
25 Sep 2023

People who live in glass houses are surrounded by dirt birds
After a century, the first colony / of bluebirds flew out of my mouth.
Over and over the virulent water / beat my flame down to ash
In this episode of  Critical Friends , the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, Aisha and Dan talk to critic and poet Catherine Rockwood about how reviewing and criticism feed into creative practice. Also, pirates.
Writing authentic stories may require you to make the same sacrifice. This is not a question of whether or not you are ready to write indigenous literature, but whether you are willing to do so. Whatever your decision, continue to be kind to indigenous writers. Do not ask us why we are not famous or complain about why we are not getting support for our work. There can only be one answer to that: people are too busy to care. At least you care, and that should be enough to keep my culture alive.
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