Birdstrike

Derek Webster

 

 

In the morning
I turn it in my hand,
a stunned thing 

wonder of ivory
hooks, iridescent
feathered skin. 

What was that
—green, invisible—
what was lost 

am I
night waiting
in its undercoat 

revisiting
my own helplessness,
slow shiver 

in one wing?

 

 

 

Derek Webster’s Mockingbird (Signal) was a finalist for the 2016 Gerald Lampert Award for best poetry debut. He received an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and was the founding editor of Maisonneuve. His poetry and prose have appeared in many publications including The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, Boston Review, The Walrus, and elsewhere. He lives in Montreal.