One Poem by BEE LB

a brother is also a bird

the birds i must remember
are scared of me. they meet my hooded eyes
through clean glass, scatter. orange feet

everywhere. table with pieces missing
more and more. cling to wire
over my window, a miracle

of horizontal nature.
i am careful not to move. i watch them.
a single breath can take them away.

my bronzed grackle is back
behind bars. not far from the sandhill cranes
but not allowed outside to see.

who is charles? a repeated question, a sign
of innocence or ignorance unminded.

charles egler created the quarantine facility
holding my bird boy, big brother.

the sun spills over him as he sleeps, the lights
never go out. at night he holes up in the quiet,

reads by endless fluorescents.
i can’t blame him. i can’t
afford to buy him books.

grief’s longing is everywhere.
my bird brother pecks and pecks
and finds no nest to home in.

a room painted and left empty. a bed perpetually unmade.
books from past cagings piled high on the carpeted corner.

a box that does not belong to me nonetheless rooted through.
three days, no call. a birthday, his, unspoken. a second birthday,
reminder only of death. unspoken until the end, then not

to me. is there anyone for me to blame? i’m looking for a shock
of red to recognize. my eyes: blurring more and more.

today, only sun to remark on. birds shocked far. boy
unheard. phone gathering minutes like pennies pile into dollars.

an unsent note is waiting for the bird to read. maybe like
naybe library without the r since like sense. who taught this bird
to read? he knows only the shape of sound. an endearment

i am constantly undermining
by accident. an accidental choice,
also known as a mistake.

he knows all about that. even more than i do.

BEE LB is an array of letters, bound to impulse; an artist creating delicate connections. they have called any number of places home; currently, somewhere between coming and going on unceded Anishinaabe land in Michigan. they've been published in DISCOUNT GUILLOTINE, GROTTO, MOODY, and Landfill, among others. their portfolio can be found at twinbrights.carrd.co and they can be found at patreon.com/twinbrights