Magpie

Magpie

by Susannah Violette

I dream of magpie an oil slick in snow dark sky and moonlight

her brittle nest lined with ruddy fox fur late summer grass and rabbit - whose bones make a cradle for one egg

inside the egg

I guess

she laid her diamonds cubic zirconia, broken glass all the same under nights - orange street lights

the rings on her clawed feet also dangle from twigs, like discarded ring-pulls

earrings make her an indian queen her beak-nose shimmy shakes

she caw-caws

and her throat rattled bangles she was a bird-tambourine

I feed her bread and cinnamon buns she pays me in rubies

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Top photo cred: Natasha Miller, Unsplash.com

Susannah Violette is an artist, silversmith, musician and poet and lives in the endless forests of Germany with her husband and two daughters.