Two Poems
by Hilary Brown
The Wolf Will Protect Her Children
though they are not her children.
They are the children of someone
who would leave children
in the jaws of a wolf.
California Quail
Note: This poem is best viewed on a widescreen device
CW: grief
A bird that shade of blue brings grief,
carried in his feathers,
carried in his breast.
carried in his dark chin outlined pale.
He brings loneliness. Or brings it to life.
You will see him. You will leave the scene,
embarrassed by your sudden tears. He must not
see you cry. He will bring you overwhelm. He will weight
your arms and legs and bones. Every joint, every nerve will
ache
and
scream.
The blue and black feathers, the light brown seeking to shine its way on the black- edged
feathers.
It is a grief.
Hilary Brown is an award winning poet and queer disability advocate living in Chicago. Their collection, When She Woke She Was an Open Field (2017), is available from Headmistress Press. Other work can be found in Queerly, The Ocotillo Review, The South Carolina Review, Still Living the Edges: A Disabled Women's Reader, and elsewhere. They're a 2022 Zoeglossia Fellow.