Mangoes & Magpies

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Mango on A Magpie By Leah Saulnier

mangoes & magpies

like a ladybird in the amazon rainforest  

like the lies from friends who are usually honest 

like the sound of a skipping rope hitting my pocket 

or the skip in your step when you over-pronounce phonetics  

like the warmth in every yes 

chlorine haze  

drifting your dreary gaze 

my magpie had flown from the nest and so has the joy 

two more left and i lost my only boy 

brandy breath and liquor lips 

water vapour dripping from your highlighted tips 

like when you wave to someone and they don’t wave back 

or like when you say i love you and they reciprocate with ew you’re fat 

Like how you used to smile with all your teeth 

didn’t know that was the last time that we’d meet  

like how i didn’t feel like crying when she died 

but how i felt as if i ought instead to trade my life  

like a coconut they say 

brown on the outside  

“white” on the inside 

arms stuck in play dough  

how did i not know  

that the magpie came back  

and so did the sorrow 

- Ashrita Kalia

Poetry
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland