a person in my grief group shares about hummingbirds
by Mikey Jones
Last night,
metal chairs scratched
across wooden floors,
sweaty palms and heads
hung low in a circle
when a handsome man
with a scraggly beard and
hazel green eyes told us
hummingbirds can remember
a person’s face in exact detail
before visiting again
in the spring. I asked him
do you think they were searching
for my father? Did they hover
above a chipped wooden porch
cock their heads at an empty green
wicker chair - white flowered
cushions covered in dust.
Mikey Jones (he/they) is a queer Appalachian poet now living in Seattle, Washington. He is the co-editor of Grief Journeys, an anthology of grief from The Healing Center. His poetry appears in Screen Door Review and Hood of Bone Review. Mikey enjoys tending to their houseplants, long walks in the woods, and books that make him cry. Find more of their work at mikeybjones.com.
