Maya Jewell Zeller

 little spell for kestrel hovering / for x-ray & mothering

if you watch in slow motion / the flecked kestrel / on Youtube / you’ll watch your own lungs fanning out against the sun / sweet girl made of March light through a seed pod / how delta the vein & heart / highways of breath, of atmospheric capacity / fluctuating twenty times a minute / like fleck on fleck on feather / remember smiling? / remember your joy wrinkles? / you could fix your eyes on this bird / as if it holds a wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum / while it stays in one place / above the rocky cliffs / while it hunts / barely wind-ruffled, on the heather / while it lands, feasting with that beautiful beak / literally eating the small snake alive / below this spectacle so many colorful tents / on the beaches / people picnicking on dead meat / & building castles / & dressing & undressing their wingless offspring / those lumpy but language-gifted gods