by Romardo Lyons
Nursery Rhyme
Her neck spasms, while her hair is yanked back
to form a tight braid. Perhaps, two—as the ritual
each time takes so long. Perhaps, one—as the pull
is central and straight. Her throat, open, exposed
as for a young animal ready to be executed.
Each year the swallows leave, then return. Here they
are again, with their chatter, their festive sound.
They say nothing about the sunny lands of their cruise.
They don’t carry twigs of tropical plants in their beaks.
They just disappear and return.
Are they the same birds? They are the same
darkly-attired, nameless multitude, convent nuns
on a stroll, drunk with en-plein-air bliss.
As she kneels in front of the bed, head harpooned
by the long teeth of the comb, swallows dot the scrap
of pale sky beyond the window pane. They twirl,
spiral, draw wondrous figure eights. They call, louder,
louder, screaming their freedom song.
Toti O’Brien is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish Last Name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician, and dancer. She is the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise Press, 2020), In Her Terms (Cholla Needles Press, 2021), Pages of a Broken Diary (Pski’s Porch, 2022) and Alter Alter (Elyssar Press, 2022). http://totihan.net/index.html https://www.facebook.com/toti.obrien/
Romardo Lyons is a Jamaican award-winning journalist, poet, visual artist, and film maker. He is 24-years-old and has been in the field of journalism for just under three years. He is the 2020 recipient of the Edward Baugh Poetry Prize, which is a highly coveted award hosted annually by the National library of Jamaica (NLJ). Twitter and Instagram: @romardolyons.