WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE DON’T TALK ANYMORE ❋ Jamie Mortara

in this scene
you
are a Crow
and i
am a Crow
and we are both
perched
in a tree
and Crow-You
turns to
Crow-Me
and says:
it’s temporary

Crow-Me asks:
what is

and Crow-You replies:
there is a kind of
casual anger
in a tornado

so Crow-Me stops
and pecks
at nothing
says:
people can be such
terribly nice
monsters
asks:
you ever think
you were so dead-set
on getting your wings back
that you took mine
without noticing

Crow-You retorts:
well
is a painting still
a Still-Life
if the flowers are all wilt

i watched it born
i can watch it die
says Crow-Me

so Crow-You stops
and pecks
at nothing
says:
all these poems
sound like someone
fumbling
to teach themself piano
asks:
how
do people
look
at you
when you tell them
about me

so Crow-Me
glides over
across the street
to a different tree
says:
at first
there was someone
and then
there was not
says:
in the beginning
there was darkness
and then
there was more darkness

how
you gonna act
brand new
Crow-You retorts

i don’t want to die
even when i do
Crow-Me whispers

and with that
Crow-You
swoops
over the street
and sits too close
to Crow-Me
Crow-You looking
almost sorry
but still
not really

you ever wonder
if we are each
a glass house
Crow-Me asks
you ever worry
we are both throwing stones
at all the different people
inside of us