MURMURATIONS

A Flock of Kittiwakes, Rissa Sp., Take of from a Cliffside Rookery

rising
like a black tide borne
on northern currents
funneling
feathered bodies
to an ancient
resting place
a thousand cries
one face

heartbeat skipped
in a breath’s space
flapping
rolling
a wave
spiraling
to warmer climate
magnetically concealed
compass

showing the way
circular clock
in the brain
reaching the same
labyrinthine corner
turning
point
sharp
as a blade shining
a shoulder rubbed
by rounded fingers

when it aches
in rain
in tandem
with damp lashes
fluttering
(no hollow bones
to break)
still, fractured
caught in the act
of nearly praying
envy
holding the same

God
who winged the angels
to blame
for inventing gravity
keeping you
from hovering
accompanied by voices
matching pitches
telepathically

tuned
maneuvering
above the shadowed land and

roiling sea

Author’s Bio:

Kasandra Larsen’s chapbook Stellar Telegram won the 2009 Sheltering Pines Press competition and is forthcoming 2010; nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and a finalist in the 2010 Tiferet Spiritual Poetry Contest. Her poems have appeared in over two dozen journals in the US, Canada, and the UK, including Ballard Street Poetry Journal, Full of Crow, Pure Francis, nthposition, Osprey Journal, The November 3rd Club, Blue Earth Review, Two Hawks Quarterly, and Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry.
kasandra1_17@yahoo.com