Nesting

    The birds only come once a year. Just when the town starts to forget their migrations, they return, mouths open and hungry for the streetlights. Their wings fall off, one by one, until corpses litter the ground like rain. Meanwhile, In backyards, parents don’t hear the kids flying themselves from rooftops. This is how every year, in the deluge, the town forgets its name, and the birds forget their homes; the kids piecemeal themselves back together, their parents never hear their deaths, the birds regrow their wings and their corpses leave no shadows, and the town forgets their exit.