Seagull

A.J. Brown

How many times do I have to learn this lesson?

How many nights arranging my nest, the record-spin call of you in my head

How many false starts until a bird can call itself flightless?

a failure of aerodynamics;

have I not scooped my bones hollow just for this?

to fly/crash/fall again, again, please god, again

harder !

I’m just a stupid fucking bird

in my stupid fucking nest

tweeting and preening,

mouth open wide,

waiting to be used

Swallows

A.J. Brown

when I was a kid,

I took down a swallows nest with a pitchfork

from the rafters of an old barn.

it was full of baby birds,

mouths gaping, begging, waiting

to touch them was to taint them, like growing up.

so I let them be.

what is a mother, if not a slow starving?

Confession/Hummingbird

A.J. Brown

A confession is a bared throat

A fist unused to being an open palm

the hummingbird twitch of habit,

The flicker of terror

as the axe comes down

The Devil/Carrion

A.J. Brown

If I loved you, fallen angel

I’d help you deal with the aftermath

lick the blood off your lips

leave what’s on the concrete for the rain,

come home with me

I wouldn’t know what to do

(I’ve never read the bible)

But at least you wouldn’t be alone

God, I’ve always loved a broken wing

I’ll feed you, baby bird

open your mouth for me

open your fucking mouth

Aiden “A.J.” Brown is an LA-based writer, multimedia artist, and aquarius rising. Originally from Chicago, they received their Master’s degree in the Humanities with a concentration in English Literature from The University of Chicago in 2020 before moving to the great state of Los Angeles, California, where they work as a high school English teacher. Read more from Aiden at thefallofasparrow.substack.com and on Instagram at inthefallofasparrow.