On the Sidewalk, Something Winged It

Something winged

left its pool-blue shell

open like a burst-mark

Something hatched

from the cracks

without ending

And you have been there

You have wished to remember

being an egg, being wombed

and unknown yet beloved

by parties eager to guess

your sex

Gender, like genre,

still blurs thee

You can't keep the

packing intact

The thou indiscreet

from its covering

You want an entire

armor of an omelette

You want the unriven

ontology

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Alina Stefanescu was born in Romania and lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her partner and several mammals. Her writing can be found in diverse journals, including Prairie Schooner, North American Review, FLOCK, Southern Humanities Review, Crab Creek Review, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Virga, Whale Road Review, and others. She serves as Poetry Editor for Pidgeonholes, Co-Director of PEN America's Birmingham Chapter, Co-Founder of 100,000 Poets for Change Birmingham, and proud board member of Magic City Poetry Festival. She was nominated for 5 Pushcart Prizes by various journals in 2019. A finalist for the 2019 Kurt Brown AWP Prize, Alina won the 2019 River Heron Poetry Prize. She still can't believe (or deserve) any of this. More online at www.alinastefanescuwriter.com.