Like a Married Couple Lapsed into Bickering
COLETTE TENNANT
the two crows in the cottonwood out back
just squawk to squawk some days
or sit on the wire running parallel to the road,
one facing north, one facing south.
If they were writers,
one would be left-handed
just to spite the right hander.
But there was that one day
the gray hawk flew in solemn circles
that narrowed toward their nest.
They were soldiers then,
pledged to an allegiance
only they could love,
their wings, their black rage outrageous
toward talons dark with hunger
deep as nameless night.
Colette Tennant is the author of two poetry collections: Commotion of Wings (2010), and Eden and After (2015). Her poems have appeared in various journals, including Southern Poetry Review, Dos Passos Review, Christianity and Literature, and the most recent issue of Prairie Schooner. Her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2015.