Of Vulture

It’s easy to hunt a stationary animal.

In this way, letting you die was convenient. Kinder, even.

               & when I’m dead
               Will my bones move the earth,
               Or will the earth move them,
               Alone. It takes a body

Longer to use cold water
Than the bitter taste of heat.

This is what truly scares us:
Not what we’ve already wanted, but what we could want.

My red-yellow eyes squawk long
Before my dagger-beak squawks.

I was told that every conversation is a competition,
For a different species.

Yes, I’m the ugly one, nothing to prove
When the animal’s already rotting,

How lazy of me to use every piece of the body,
To know the taste of our shared bacteria.

I can tell you that every swiping wing kills a thousand organisms.

My Vulture says, I can't apologize for everything
               I do, or wait forever.
               So let yourself fall. Relax.
               There are worse things than dying.



Nicholas Wright obtained his MFA from Columbia University and has previously been published in Catch-Up Magazine and Apogee Journal. He is a grade-school teacher in NYC where he teaches Language Arts and Creative Writing. He’s been told that his spirit animal is a mountain goat. He has accepted this association. Nicholas lives in Brooklyn, New York.