when I was a girl in the way 

you are a girl with ponytails 

 and ghost scratches 

I was privileged to pretend 

I was Darwin

cataloguing wings 

and beaks 

and smooth feathers 

cracking open daylight

 with the roosters 

the king of my moor 
 
 
now I am a girl in the way 

you are a girl 

when you’re impractical 

and unlikely to settle 

I  look outside my window 

to see the cardinal breast pulsing 

and I feel my gut start to turn 

i hear my grandfather whispering 

he is dead but his voice is not 

 
 

when you were a girl 

you broke two limbs 

from the avocado tree 

I planted 

your elbow healed

but the avocados 

never bloomed again. 
 

– sheila cordova