Deidad de la estrella de la mañana,

a contrapuntal for Ross and Alexia

 

The sound of your guardian angel falling

means you’ve been saved

from tragedy.                                                                                                                                                       We thank

our lucky stars, take them out with the trash.

On pick-up day, we spend time

selecting another guardian                                                                                                                              we sharpen our knives

A cutler calls from the street, a tropical bird call

                                              Filador!                       Filador!

we hear him so close that he must be

behind the door.                                                                                                                                                 your neighbor calls

the neighbor sent him straight to you                                                                                   we ignore,

we let him shout,

                                            laugh at his sharp desperation,

                                            at our desires blunted by brokenness,

a stamping of crows’ feet                                                                                                                                we laugh,

                                                                                 we laugh, as we hammer

                                                                                 your new guardian angel to the wall.

 

 

About the Author
Miriam Calleja is an award-winning Maltese bilingual freelance poet, nonfiction/fiction writer, workshop leader, and translator. She is the author of three poetry collections, two chapbooks, and several collaborative works. Her poetry has been published in anthologies and in translation worldwide. She has been Highly Commended for a translated poem by the Stephen Spender Trust. Her latest chapbook is titled Come Closer, I Don’t Mind the Silence (BottleCap Press, 2023). Her essays and poems have appeared in platform review, Odyssey, Taos Journal, Tupelo Quarterly, Modern Poetry in Translation, humana obscura, and elsewhere. Miriam lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Read more on miriamcalleja.com.