& somehow the name fits. My daughters with full on beaks
basking & flaunting on their walk/jaunt to school. First day
flitting & flirting in April’s early sunshine. Each step, a float
from bodega to BX36 bus stop. Their arms as wings, hailing
& Miriam, who caws, Morning, in a baritone. So the driver
says, Hey there boss. & they giggle incessant. I’m a boss. No,
I’m a boss. We’re both bosses. Are we bosses? Mom, mom,
mom, mom, mom, mommy, ma, mom, mooom, mama, ma
their voices noisy, non-stop, a collective cacophonous chant
Yes, I say, insistent, persistent on my own. Bird girl bosses, yes.
Ellen Hagan is a writer, performer, and educator. Her latest collection of poetry Hemisphere, was published by Northwestern University Press, Spring 2015. She recently signed a book deal with Bloomsbury for: Watch Us Rise, an upcoming YA collaboration with Renée Watson set for publication in February 2019. Ellen’s poems and essays can be found in ESPN Magazine, Creative Nonfiction, Underwired Magazine, She Walks in Beauty (edited by Caroline Kennedy), Huizache, Small Batch, and Southern Sin. Her first collection of poetry, Crowned was published by Sawyer House Press in 2010.
