Emerging Voices from the Wild
Steven Parlato
Bird Watching
No, I’ve
never scribed
meticulous
field notes on plumage:
Jay’s blue-black striations,
Oriole’s tangerine-bright
underside, Redwing’s epaulets.
A casual observer, still, I’ve
thrilled at Cardinal’s flash, the lacy edge
of Dove’s splayed tail, have tried to mimic Finch
song. But today, sightings low, I’m on
alert, hunting neither hues nor
love lyrics. On lookout for
symptoms—eyes swollen, flight
erratic—dreading
tomorrow, when
the sky falls
silent.
Steven Parlato’s poetry has appeared in Peregrine, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Freshwater, MARGIE, and other journals. Author of two young adult novels, The Namesake (2013) and The Precious Dreadful (2018), and a Professor of English and Art at Connecticut’s Naugatuck Valley Community College, Steve is currently at work on a series of collage portraits. Titled “They Are Not Disposable,” the works—using repurposed household junk—honor the lives of Black Americans stolen by racial violence. This issue, and our mistreatment of the Earth, are central to Parlato’s recent written and visual work. Learn more about his writing and art at: