Flightless

Flightless Jasmine Reyes

If I were not told, I would have thought I never had a mother. And in the ways that mattered, I did not. If I were not told, I would have thought she was an Ibis bird. Grey winged, rich with freedom. I imagined her hiding in wispy clouds, or roaming the sun’s edge, catching crisp fire kisses. Feeding on the wind. I wanted to know the sky like she did. The silence, a flurry of withered leaves slowly settling.