We clutch hymnals, whisper hearsay, stretch clenched muscles, remember her in the recital, her yellow feathers fluttering as she shuffled in line with our daughters, and imagine might-have-beens as cries catch in our throats while her mother sits there shined to a glow, her new hat unyielding, while their preacher lays a hand on the small pink casket and says Jesus chooses his angels and we flinch, thinking that if only when her angry mother flipped the car in the dark the angel had been buckled in, she wouldn’t have flown out the window as if she already had wings.
Luanne Castle’s poetry and prose have appeared in Copper Nickel, River Teeth, JMWW, Grist, Fourteen Hills, and more. She has published four award-winning poetry collections. www.luannecastle.com Bluesky: @luannecastle.bsky.social Facebook: Luanne Castle Instagram: @catpoems X: @writersitetweet