poem: Jeanann Verlee

a boy named Never

my chest is a birdcage
where two canaries perch,
chirp, and preen their feathers

today, a little boy came to my door
I thought he was selling chocolate bars for class
but he didn’t say a word, just pressed his tiny hand
through my sternum, precise as a surgeon

he pulled out one of the canaries
walked away, humming a lullaby
kissing her soft yellow head

JEANANN VERLEE is an author, performance poet, editor, activist, and former punk rocker who collects tattoos and winks at boys. Her work has been published and is forthcoming in a variety of journals, including The New York Quarterly, PANK, decomP, Lung, The Legendary, and Spindle, among others. Her poems have also been included in various anthologies such as “Not A Muse: The Inner Lives of Women” and “His Rib: Poems Stories and Essays by Her.” Verlee’s first full-length book of poems will be released by Write Bloody Publishing in March, 2010.