Flumes Vol. 2 Issue 2 Winter 2017 | Page 44

31

Ka and Ib

by Julie Foster

Crows are out there,

chuckling twirling and snapping lice.

They scratch sigils into my roof,

invoking other dark gods.

Their caws string from one to the other

measuring distances and

friendships.

I know they love me

for the bare branches of my hair

in the wind,

for the bread and wine

that warm my breath.

For the before

when clouds

carried me up and outward

and the before I crashed into this cage.

See these waxed wires

jointed against my chest?

They demand

with a percussion

of feathers.