Tuesday poem #234 : Melissa Eleftherion : alula

little bastard winglet

                                                you are the shoulder

connective tissue

            the one that calls the shots

thumb among the digits

                                                                                                                                                                                                leader among feathers

            even primaries follow you

                                    self-possessed

                                    in foil of integument

            you lift & fold

                        lift & fold

                                                the furs no harm/ony

your flame so bright burning

your fire eliding, gathers

                        earth’s breathing

            ~cools~

            a cochlear restore

                                                            how the conch travels

                                                            wing to wing enveloping

Melissa Eleftherion grew up in Brooklyn. She is the author of huminsect, prism maps, Pigtail Duty, the leaves the leaves, green glass asterisms, and several other chapbooks. Her first full-length collection, field guide to autobiography, is out from H_NGM_N Books in summer/fall 2017. Recent work is forthcoming in inter|rupture, Glass, Italian-Americana Review, & Poet-Librarians in the Library of Babel. Founder of the Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange, Melissa lives in Mendocino County where she works as a Teen Librarian, teaches creative writing, & curates the LOBA Reading Series at the Ukiah Library. More of her work can be found @ www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan