A Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community
Extinctions
for mother, grandmother, & sister-in-law
I hike the knots of El Salvador and cannot find the Belted Flycatcher.
Cannot find the shy Gurney’s Pitta inside Myanmar’s lowland floor. Listen
for its broken whistle, melodies I have not yet learned.
Sleep my little bird
Or
Shlof mayn feygele
Or
Duerme mi pajarito
If only she and she and she were still my dear birdies.
Against my city’s skyscraper windows, Ovenbirds shatter
unless building lights are dimmed, and they can find the stars.
tea-cher Tea-cher TEA-cher
I cannot find my own fading song. I am a crow circling a dead crow. A magpie
setting clips of grass beside ones I have loved. I set my small stones.
Amy Small-McKinney
Amy Small-McKinney’s poems have been published in numerous journals including Poetica Magazine, Ilanot Review, American Poetry Review, and Persimmon Tree. She is the author of two full-length poetry books. Her third chapbook, One Day I Am A Field, was written during COVID 2020 and her husband’s death (Glass Lyre Press).
