RENIA WHITE | aurify

in her town, A buries a yellow bird

refers to it as a gesture of care

because she can see the world

in the small knows that a bird is

a speck of the larger God-flock

I lean in because I need to—

for the sake of staying around

in the name of the sun inside us all

droned to her about my makings

and then she tells me this? I can’t help

myself. I needed the dead wonder.

needed someone to know I too have

my ear to the root. it is between us now

—the yellow bird that gilts us

Renia is a poet and writing instructor from the east coast. Her poetry has been recognized by the likes of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Sonora Review, and Indiana Review and appears or is forthcoming in The Offing, Slice, Poetry Daily, Witness, Southern Indiana Review, No, Dear and elsewhere. She earned her BA from Howard University & her MFA from Cornell University, where she also taught. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.