Excerpt from Joy Is the Justice We Give Ourselves by J Drew Lanham, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Big Easy Black Bird

There are stories
the string of beads would tell,
hanging now as they do
from the sweep of live oak branch,
festooned like so much glamped-up Spanish moss.
What manner of drunken debauch warranted arboreal launch?
What was bared? What stayed hidden?
Who sinned? Was everyone the next day forgiven?
Does God, on that day, sneak a sip?
Would Jesus throw baubles at Mary Magdalene?
Ask her for a glimpse?
A crow strolls by,
black as night beneath a golden strand,
hanging a bit more than head high,
wobbling a bit in its corvid walk.
Drunk? I wonder.
Hungover under the overhanging glimmer,
it is the privilege of voyeur bird
to see. But not tell.
Wonder with my morning bourbon,
at my lips to hide the smile growing,
what kind of Big Easy crow
I would have been.

Excerpted from Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves by J Drew Lanham. Copyright © 2024 by J Drew Lanham. Excerpted by permission of Hub City Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.