O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Sean Wang
BIRD AND THE SHELL
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Cuckoos feed in the grass.
I coast in, brake pads warm,
I toe the curb, let the wheel click.
I want their talk. I lift a hand,
too big; the flock plates up and breaks.
Be a snail, I tell my hand.
I touch the shell I wear,
plastic, foam, strap, visor.
No slime, no trail.
My knuckles test the face shield.
The knock returns my knock.
chin strap biting, a welt
hardening to shell.
A jogger passes. I wave smaller.
My voice comes back tinny through the visor,
so I chop the air and tap the hinge.
The hinge clicks back.
Only the hinge.
I lower into the made headroom
and wait inside the head I made.
It taps the visor, drops to the path,
hinge and feather in the dust.
I kneel, lift the cracked shield,
find the seam, press till it holds,
thumb steady over the hinge.
I wanted their talk, and I scared them.
I keep what I keep.
The shell keeps what it keeps.
About the writer:
Sean Wang is a poet and PhD student. His recent work appears or is forthcoming in Cerasus Poetry Magazine, Remington Review, Stone Poetry Quarterly, Eunoia Review, and others.
Image: Knucklehead (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2025. Public domain via Midjourney AI.
OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprints Buttonhook Press, HOT BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Issues, and HIGH BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Art, supports writers and artists worldwide.
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