Martha by Martha Christina

. . .the very last pigeon of her kind.

Suppose you shared a name
with the last passenger pigeon,

and suppose your husband,
though not named George,
had, like hers, died
in a facility where he
was thought to be safe
and getting good care.

Small wonder then
you’d also feel

. . .a barren relic of past abundance.



Martha Christina is a frequent contributor to Brevities. Longer work appears in Innisfree Poetry Journal, Naugatuck River Review, earlier postings of Red Eft Review, and most recently in the anthology Ice Cream Poems from World Enough Writers. She has published two collections: Staying Found (Fleur-de-lis Press) and Against Detachment (Pecan Grove Press).