Moa Egg
look how it moves
clumsily
how it moves me
with its slow reluctance
to be in the same space
with me
how it never turns its back
but never looks directly
how it protects its space
flapping
there is a nervousness beneath
its wings, like a mumbled song,
a hurried prayer, escaping;
how it flits and furrows
filling a space almost smaller
than its entire body
how it prepares to lay an egg
furtively
trying to place it where I cannot reach
how it closes the air around itself
zipping the molecules
shut.
Moa Egg was first published in The Blue Nib issue 41 in 2020, and then in Stranger Intimacy (Stamparija Reljic, 2020). The commissioned painting was made by Karen Caruana.
