I think of the bird flying off
     a broken branch she had
            always known as nest – what
happened was: mother called
    her her baby bird; and she
            was. what happened was: when
Reeves turned into age fledgling,
    mother still called her her baby
             bird. see, I never understood
why Reeves always slipped down
    our nest, leaving mother to grab
            her mid-air other than I did mother
holding her by the wings when
    they flew – surely the sky wasn’t
            a wild forest. Reeves didn’t attend
bird school because mother
    taught her to soar at age fledgling.
            father said Reeves would on some
days give back those treatment,
    and I would on more days get some
            but then again what happened was:
mother left. Reeves met another
    male. and she’s now with his eggs,
            heading to his nest.

Precious Okpechi studies Biochemistry at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Brittle Paper, Nthanda Review, Praxis Magazine, Dwarts. He is currently the Custodian of TWC – a small community of student writers at Nsukka.