Matt Kirkham
Night ravens
The first night the raven dropped a black cat
at my feet. The second night it was snared. My lover freed it.
‘It’ll be all right’, I said. I unlatched
the window and threw the bird and we watched as
it dropped five floors, into the alley, out of sight. ‘How long are we going to pretend about this?’ she asked.
The third night I fell asleep in the bath and heard sneers
in the rattling water in the tanks turning harsher
and pitch dark, croaking and complaining from an iron beak.
The fourth night it stood at the open window, wise, godless.
The fifth afternoon it flapped above my classroom, heavily
rasping out my name and I stopped, not sure I was awake.
Page(s) 30
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