Sherwin Bitsui is the author of two poetry collections, Shapeshift and Flood Song, and is anthologized in Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century. A recipient of the 2006 Whiting Writers’ Award, Bitsui was born on the Navajo Reservation in White Cone, Arizona, and is Diné of the Todicheenii people. He lives in Tucson.


none

Four Poems

by Sherwin Bitsui

I bite my eyes shut between these songs.

They are the sounds of blackened insect husks

                                           folded over elk teeth in a
                                                       tin can,

they are gull wings fattening on cold air

                      flapping in a paper sack on the chlorine-
                               stained floor.

They curl in corners, spiked and black thatched,
stomp across the living room ceiling,
pull our hair one strand at a time from electric sockets
and paint our stems with sand in the kitchen sink.
People on couch
To continue reading please sign in.
Join for free
Already a reader? Sign In