What Becomes, the Hawk
a pause and shift in the air
. its weight and lull
pulls us, our past, into my inner ether
. as I walk these roads without you
I’ve walked them from childhood
. now they are changed
though you were never here
. not here in these woods,
not on my tamped earth or marshlands,
. your absence insists on its scope,
its filling of space, of sound,
. . pigeon-holed plans, tomorrows amiss
dark star, my Max, my once-light
. how should I navigate
without you? I ask the sky
. a hawk stirs and launches
from a branch in the marsh
. just grazing my head
I bow, freeze, and gawk
. as her motion / body answers
. with its graceful weaving
becoming smaller as she fades
. into infinite silva
.
Koss is the queer author of One for Sorrow, a hybrid book published by Negative Capability Press, to be released in 2020/2021. One for Sorrow is an exploration of grief and is both an elegy and a poetic critique of the limits and failures of Western bereavement practices. Through images, words, and erasures, Koss traces the erratic path of unimaginable trauma and loss.
She has also been published in Cincinnati Review, Hobart, Spillway, North Dakota Quarterly, Spoon River Review, and many other journals. She also has work forthcoming in Best Small Fictions 2020. Find her on Twitter @Koss51209969, Instagram @koss_singular, or her website at http://koss-works.com.
