https://sweetlit.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Nesting_Arnisha_Royston.mp3

nesting

i’ve been thinking about the backs of buildings / how they’re all ugly / there’s a sparrow hurt / bent up against / the corner of my porch / maybe a broken wing / or  heart / i’m not sure / i stand there with two jugs of water / keys slipping through the corner of my hand / the sparrow so scared / it starts to turn inward / i whisper / i’m not going to hurt you / i wish / i picked it up / saved it / what use am i / to something trying so hard / to live / i slip past the bird / follow the winding stairs up / i’m so lonely / i whisper / there is no one / to hear these words / though it feels like something that should remain / a secret / i find the door to my apartment / call my mother for the fourth time / unwrap into this place / on the phone /  she asks about the doctor / have i be following up / i say / yes / hating that some things can’t be escaped / and  i remember her hands in mine / our arms crossed over each other / pulling hard / then her body against me / holding tight / after the news / the tears / the pieces of myself / i never wanted anyone else to see / what  a privilege it is / to  live / even if its ugly  / to be saved / i should have picked up the sparrow / held it tight / let it be broken / not everything is looking for / fixing / i want to be whole / again / the scars on the sides of my stomach / can you see them / can you see the home / i’m making out of myself / here / in this body / in this pain / in the loneliness  / .  


Arnisha is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Nominated poet from Los Angeles. She received a BA in English from UCLA and a MFA from San Diego State University. Arnisha is the current Tickner Writing Fellow at Gilman School in Baltimore. Her poems are published or forthcoming in literary journals such as Michigan Quarterly Review, North American Review, Rhino, American Literary Review, and Phoebe, to name a few.

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