Trace It Back to the Animals

“Cranes” by Jocelyn Ulevicus

It starts in the throat,
sinker and rod
caught on a fish
flailing for          breath
through gills rotting away
to thrush.
Maybe more bird than fish,
more flutter,
caught in a chimney of
creosote,
soot.
Is this the illness or the sleight
of illness?

Isn’t there a hotline for this?
The one that tells how to baste
the turkey to golden
crispness?
The one that pronounces me
not dead.
Still fish.
Still bird.
Animal, not food.
Don’t let the dog do her licking.
She’ll take it on the tongue.
Her coughs may
boomerang it back.
No one knows.

My body heats like a boiled egg.
Gills, wing, sulfur.
I stand too quickly
and the room goes kaleidoscope.
Ceiling is floor,
floor is temperature.
And what does it matter if we’re unwell
if this is the way alive is cooked?

About the Author

Christy Prahl is a philanthropy professional, foraging enthusiast, and occasional insomniac. Her past, present, and future publications include the Bangalore Review, Blue Mountain Review, High Shelf Press, Boston Literary Magazine, eMerge, and others. She splits her time between Chicago and rural Michigan with her husband and plain brown dog.

About the Artist

Jocelyn Ulevicus is an American artist and writer with work forthcoming  or published in magazines such as the Free State Review, The Petigru  Review, Blue Mesa Review, and Humana Obscura amongst others. Working  from a female speculative perspective, themes of nature and the unseen;  and exit and entry are dominantly present in her work. Ulevicus is a  2020 Pushcart Prize nominee, and her in-progress memoir, The Birth of a  Tree was shortlisted for the 2019 Santa Fe Literary Award Program. She currently resides in Amsterdam and is currently working on her first  book of poems.