My poem, “Omens and Totems,” is in the current (Spring 2024) online issue of Slant. You can read the whole beautiful journal at: www.uca.edu/sll/slant/. This poem originated in a dream. Dreams are fertile fields for inspiration. I keep a notebook in the bathroom so if I see a powerful image or hear a word while I am sleeping, I can write it down immediately when I awake without disturbing Jim! Here is my poem:
Omens and Totems
I have this nightmare
where I am asked by the storm
within the wind to name
the birds. Each of them.
And I am shamed by my meager
attempt at sparrow and
wren. There are too many
and in my sleep crows shift
into a handful of starling
shadow. It is as if a species
became each individual feature,
none of them true. Each
beloved relationship shattered
since my heart studied
the wrong wing.
My friend makes dream catchers
from chicken feathers. And twine
and seeds the colors of rain.
At night pilgrims fly through them.
I hang one from my head board
reach for my childhood robins.
Drift into the time when I was
so new to this world
I thought I was tasked
with giving the birds their names.