Two Poems // Devin Aeh Canary
the haunting
i went back to Norfolk to visit
our old apartment on the corner
i looked up at the window
half expecting to see our cats
peering down at me
i wonder if whoever lives there now
can feel our sadness
like a ghost

the infestation
our new dream house came with a few unpleasant surprises
mold in the cabinets
fleas in the carpet
and hoards of spiders
that crawled in to the house
when the nights grew cold
about the same time the white supremacists
posted my name, photo, and address online
encouraging their followers to harass me
for the crime of being a feminist
that fall every dark spot, every dust bunny became a black widow
every passing car the skin heads coming to make me pay
every morning spent trapping spiders in jars
checking for new threatening messages every 10 minutes, sometimes every 5
cooking breakfast with my laptop on on the counter, heart pounding
after awhile
I began to grow comfortable with my tormentors
appreciate them, even
the way that tarantula did not eat my toes when it joined me in the shower
how the nazi blacked out my 4 year old daughter's face in the picture he posted of us holding hands and smiling at the international street fair
how thoughtful, how kind
sometimes the spiders scrambled against the glass, frantic, as if they knew they were about to be thrown in to the chicken coop, eaten alive
the words my father said to me when I was afraid of any potentially dangerous creature as a child became my mantra
they're more afraid of you
than you are of them
they are more afraid of you
than you are of them
Devin Aeh Canary is a mom to two tiny humans, three pot belly pigs, and several free range chickens. She is the co-founder of Canary Acres Animal Sanctuary. She was awarded the ACLU's Courageous Advocate Award for creating and distributing an underground paper when she was in high school despite the administration's threats to expel her. She has been writing what she calls “renegade poetry” since she was a child, but just recently pulled her head out of her ass and started sharing her work with the world. Devin is a wannabe witch and she believes that words, spoken or written, can be magic spells. That they can alter someone's existence, for just a minute or for much longer. Poetry is powerful. Poetry is witchcraft. You can find her on Tumblr and Instagram @devincanary
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