Dove Poem
“America is watching” - Love is Blind contestant Matthew, 2024
While we slept, a hospital was bombed
on the other side of the world
(we, god help us, lived happily during the war)
I fed a dove from the palm of my hand
(God help us)
America watches the bombs fall,
An AI generated childrens’ book calls this bravery
On my screen is
a baby bird
some endangered thing
Preserved
(God help us)
All of America is watching
a fist, a heart
the eggshell of it
veins and blood and tissue skin
Two nested fists hold something fragile
heart or eggshell or life
(God help us)
I wish I had a stronger word for love,
the measure of egg drop sun falling on your back through an open window
The coo of a dove echoed through the courtyard of a ruined building
two toothbrushes in a little cup of morning
(God help us, watchers)
a cat lays
in the middle of my street
the velvet of her soft ears
a little noise of surprise (chirp or open mouth)
slice the paper-plastic like her open belly
(No one is watching)
lay the flower-insides over the spilled-out parts,
the rest around her
wreathed, so she can sleep
in a little pool of sun