in my mother’s house there is a

painting called
“Self Portrait With Hummimg Bird

Necklace” tiny dead birds strung
around an old woman’s

neck like turquoise and lapis 
lazuli 

we used to ask who
killed the brilliant 

birds
where did they come from? who is the

crone with all those 

wrinkles?

“Abuela Luna,” my mother 

says

some think she painted 
it herself we

wonder is

Abuela Luna just a
character in my

mother’s

dream?

This poem is written by Rosylin Flowers, a character in my novella, “Crooked.”