Photography © Glenn Bowie
Killers
Yes I’m back—
a non-specific species
this time
but still a bird
in the tree
I’ve got an eye on you
If you caught a glimpse
you wouldn’t recall
my color or the length
of my tail feather
Just going about your
daisy-day
While I flit branch to branch
trying to find safe nesting
out of range
of jays and the crows
hungrily snatching up
hatchlings
Last summer I nested
nicely in your hanging pot
such a sweet smell
those purple petunias
And mostly cool
under that archway
mostly shaded
All very nice till
you turned killer, too
tipping your watering can
twice, thrice
drowning my chicks
to an early death
Susan Isla Tepper has two new books forthcoming from Wilderness House Press. Her novel Hair of a Fallen Angel came out from Spuyten Duyvil Books, NYC, in the fall of last year. A twenty-year writer, she is the author of twelve published books of fiction and poetry and 7 stage plays. Tepper has been nominated 24 times for the Pushcart Prize in both fiction and poetry. Her play The Crooked Heart is a broken love story concerning artist Jackson Pollock that premiered on October 25, 2022 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. A YouTube music video for her latest novel was produced by Tim Young and Paula Parente:
Glenn Bowie is a published poet, lyricist, musician and photographer from the Boston area. He also owns and operates an elevator company that supplies custom-built elevators for clients from New England to Hollywood. The author of two poetry and photograph collections (Under the Weight of Whispers and Into the Thorns and Honey) from Big Table Publishing, he donates all profits from his books to various charities for the homeless and local animal shelters.