These Hollowed Bones

By Amelia Díaz Ettinger

In These Hollowed Bones birds are the conduit for conversations of internal emotions and the natural world. This collection ties together the themes of loss, marriage, and ecology, topics that are at once personal and universal. The voices contained within these poems speak of the isolation felt by both avian and human due to migration and loss of habitat, loss of home. Nature and bird lovers will find solace and self-recognition within these pages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sea Crow Press
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781961864016

Book preview

Iguaca xii

Cotorrita Puertoriqueña

Amazona vittata

cotorrita, cotorrita de la frente colorá

son tus ojos los espejos

de la vida que se va

Puerto Rican Parrot

Amazona vittata

little parrot, little parrot

forehead so bright

your eyes mirror

the extinguishing life

i

Towhee

Pipilo erythrophthalamus

for no particular reason

on these walks of mine

my bird is the Towhee

—Rufous-Sided to be exact

i like her unassuming

dress of brown

with hints of white patches

flashing on her tail

as she flies towards a branch

but maybe what calls

me to her is her song

chup chup chup seeeeeeeeee

such a plain song

a clear song

a celebration song

makes me wonder

how can she be so content

in her noisy rummage

among dead leaves

that startles me awake?

such a necessary reminder

to sing

Brewer’s or Grackle

Euphagus cyanocephalus or

Quiscalus niger?

i’m always home, but wistfulness follows

me as tail feathers on a bird—a Brewer’s blackbird

they cluster on the wooden broken fence

near our reeds—males with their curious yellow eyes

that seems to shift lost crevices inside of me,

their iridescent heads—that purple shimmer

an oil stain green, these lushness takes me