Kyle Vaughn

Inscape with Aviary

I have heard the myna speak nonsense,
his chatter like laughter amounting to nothing but trouble at home.

His throat’s interior, a mystery—and mine:
essentially body-less, razor-like ideations.

He is only knowable
after turquoise rupture.

The mystery is poison
and how I kept on after ingesting.

Hunger nearly ended the one
who tried everything as food.

It was the blueberries,
sad buckshot of blueberries,

round as the eggs of an invasive species,
a crazy bird among them, heckling anyone near.

In the center of my belly,
I placed the Sinaloa crow,

the one wearing black
as the image of a martyr.

He insisted on nesting
in a tree of thorns.

Forgive me who is between comfort
and the seven cords of the scourge.

On the one hand, I’m untangling
miles of spilled insides.

The other, I’m setting out fruit
for that flock of released pet parakeets.

Their color is for me,
but my blood makes a threatening noise.

A miracle would be
the return of the owl.

Saw him that once
in my nights behind glass.

But best of all would be
an olive ibis in mangroves.

That one’s outside of me
guarding his boat tied to the roots.

Lonely child, I made a bird
out of driftwood and twine.

I still believe he’ll fly
into a cloud that won’t rain away.

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Kyle Vaughn’s poems have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Adbusters, The Boiler, Drunken Boat, Poetry East, Vinyl and Introduction to the Prose Poem (Firewheel Editions). His prose has appeared in English Journal and his photography in Annalemma and Holon. His non-fiction book A New Light in Kalighat, featuring photos and stories about children in the Kalighat red light district in Kolkata, India, was published in 2013 and featured by Nicholas Kristof's Half the Sky Movement. His classroom curriculum book Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises was released in 2018 (NCTE Books).