Blue Jays in the Yard
by Felicia Zamora
Beyond the pane: dark suspends and a forlorn look
crosses the day’s face. Beyond the pane: two Blue Jays
pop from the belly of the lilac bush. Backs cerulean
flowing cobalt, flowing aquamarine—
limitless colors
bleed in feathers dipped gently in white, sculpted
patterns of tiles on southwest rooftops, back-drop
against the late fall greens of the yard—spell
bind this watcher, this gatherer of moments.
My hips push the desk forward; palms to the sill.
What playful seeking
close, closer to these walls? Proximity tugs
my ribs and knee caps react without my permission.
A rhythm in my chest panics my breath; missing,
yes missing. Led to the back door, I witness
what this gather lets me witness—small
steps, head slights, swivels, swivels. Reflection
in the glass and arms unlock the sliding door. Wings
expand and disrupt the mournful season. Flashes.
Flashes of indigo spiral
in the full dilation of pupils wanting, wanting.
FELICIA ZAMORA is the author of the books Of Form & Gather, winner of the 2016 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize (University of Notre Dame Press 2017), & in Open, Marvel (Free Verse Editions/Parlor Press 2017), and Instrument of Gaps (Slope Editions 2017). Of Form & Gather was listed as one of the “9 Outstanding Latino Books Recently Published by Independent and University Presses” by NBC News. She won the 2015 Tomaž Šalamun Prize from Verse, and authored two chapbooks. Her published works may be found or forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review, Beloit Poetry Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, Hotel Amerika, Indiana Review, jubilat, Meridian, Notre Dame Review, North American Review, OmniVerse, Pleiades, Poetry Daily, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, Puerto del Sol, Sugar House Review, Tarpaulin Sky Magazine, The Adirondack Review, The Cincinnati Review, The Georgia Review, The Michigan Quarterly, TriQuarterly Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Verse Daily, Witness Magazine, West Branch, and others. She is an associate poetry editor for the Colorado Review and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Colorado State University. She is the 2017 Poet Laureate for Fort Collins, CO and the education programs coordinator for the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She lives in Phoenix, AZ with her partner Chris and their two dogs.