smallest kid in class, every feathered school year.
shrimp, doll, shorty, shortcake, mighty mouse, little baby, mini mint, tater tot
itsy bitsy puny immigrant kid. were you called these names, too?
the tittering titles upon our hatching
“how is the weather down there?” red tail hawks ask
throats flushing, this fluctuance
of whether our weather is sweeter indeed
or whether their skims of “cute” cut us down
a smaller crumb, a tinier bit
near evanescence, a smudge of nectar
‘til
“oh look!” six foot six master birding friend chirped
regaling to me your odysseys from méxico, guatemala, belize
turning my heart into stuttering birdbath
a splash of you google-mapless
5000 mile migration. nonstopping
lighting out over the gulf. foregoing food, water, sleep
because timing out is certain death
loves who do not make it across. mournings inside our plumage
howbeit the size of your strength, will to survive, bigness of belief
in magnetic mysteries of unspillable milky ways
the unbreakable satisfaction in your song: promising life is the journey
hummingbird, named after calliope—goddess of epic poetry
befitting for “the smallest long-distance avian migrant in the world”
as we flit through diminutives, i feel tears. agog from the space of passage. from birth to death
of crossing. through life and death
of mitering. dawns to dusk to dust
betwixt &in between
morsels here to there. spiraling starclusters is this home? safety? fuel? my mate?
magenta chests beating before red blossoms sleeping upside down
or flying in reverse. my gratitude runs, from pine-oak tops to willows and alders where our hearts pump relentlessly
diving deep for life into tree sap affections
velociraptic endothermal hearts inside gooey centers
in the middle of it all. we hover
&we savor. like fledgling starlight darting through eight orbits of darkness, fluttering always
at love height.
—
Ta̍k-ke hó! ell (伊/they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist, doctoral researcher, and educator of Native Pacific Islander ancestry with a background in culturally connective art and outdoor spaces. Forest, ocean, and play animate ell’s writing, photography/design, and pedagogy. ell’s inspirations include youth daring, laughter, rain, and commitments of care and dreaming across generations, borders, disability, race, language, and imperial intersections in a world meant for magic.
