Aviculturist
It is no fault of your own,
the sister species’ near-perfect
mimicry of your temporary
shelter. A shift and dispersal
of adoption and the total
you are reduced to.
° ° °
do not name me
what was issued
by neglect
do not mention
the abandonment
attending my
hungry arrival
speak instead
of escaping
predation
and the sky
I will make
of survival
Extant
Stray hatch, though
not an obviously
predacious posture,
still your extinction
risk when I warmed
you and witness
when I fell below
a density of kin and
became targeted,
not knowing where
to end my clutch
or begin my species.
No, you are not kin,
arresting to me like
an attraction to light,
like the slowgrowth
you’ve stalled
and gathered for
my staying drive.
I fly only
because I am what’s left.
Benjamin Stillerman is an editor and co-founder of the collage journal ctrl + v, a 2019 UnionDocs fellow, and a PhD candidate at New York University. He co-produced the short film “The Mole” for the Visible Poetry Project. His poetry has appeared in Virga Magazine and is forthcoming in Salamander Magazine. He lives in Queens.