Calista Malone

Prednisone as Ornithophobia

In the mirror, I pick at the feathers
embedded in my teeth. I hardly
recognize my mouth anymore.
I’ve been swallowing bird bones,
at the doctor’s request. I do not know
what it means for my flightless body:
I am heavier than I ever have been,
but I’m sure, if given the chance,
I could glide for miles, littering
feathers as I go. Though I know
it is no big deal, this short period
of avian life, I feel my insides
molting. I am trying not to complain,
about my hollowed bones.

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Calista Malone is a poet from the Florida Panhandle. She is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She has an MA from Auburn University and has poems featured in the Naugatuck River Review, Gulf Stream Magazine, Saw Palm and other places.