What Belongs

The cardinals built their nest in the cow’s skull
tucked into       brain cavity

today is the day of fledglings testing
pinion strength

of warmth creeping through roots
steam whisping above not-so-gold-carp pond

++++++++++++++++++++babies venture out
through eye sockets

arboreal dreams
++++++inherited desire

gives them lift but maybe they have no thought
to question from where?

Enormous fig tree, palace of leaves
huddled under greenish purple swells of fruit

++++++leaking white sap and honey
itch and pleasure

fly, pull yourselves up
judder of cow jaw

carry a piece of your foremotherfathers
bloodcolored

belonging to sky.

Corinne Elysse Adams is a story collector, writer, songstress, and teacher. She earned her undergraduate degree at Sophia University in Tokyo, and received a Master’s in poetry from the University of Edinburgh. She has lived and travelled all over the world, collecting stories and studying folk writing and musical traditions in India, Ladakh, Japan, Ireland, Scotland, and all around the United States. She currently runs the humanities department at Skybridge Academy, an alternative education school in Austin, Texas. She also performs and arranges music with the Austin based quartet Oto Maru, and Americana/folk trio Full Moon Medicine. Her poetry has recently appeared in The Grey Sparrow, Ilanot Review, and exhibited in collaboration with photography in the 2015 Goa International Photography Festival.