Aubade with a Mockingbird Witness By Kalina Smith

Chirping interrupts the afterglow.

Yellow light filters in

from the gaps in the black curtains,

illuminating the massive tattoo

on your chest, fluorescent dandelion.

I wake up before you in your marital bed,

ivory sheets, pillows, and a duvet.

I imagine it stained red from last night

when you poured me a glass of merlot,

bed tainted by my hairy body

and leaving a semblance of evidence.

The sound is a mockingbird

at the window, who taunts me

as I try to absorb the ink

that touched you before me,

just like your wife does every other night.

Somehow the bird knows I must leave

before the sun slips back

into place among the clouds,

but your lanky arms hold me like a vise

that I won’t make myself escape from.

That bird’s song reminds me

of the guitar you taught yourself to play

and the rough calluses you’ve had on your fingers

since we were fourteen and you became

the best friend I ever had.

How those calluses cup my cheeks,

like a feather’s touch, but they also

can grip my hips so hard

they leave bruises in the swirls of your fingertips

so if we dusted my body for prints,

you’d be the prime suspect.

You’re still asleep as I wrench myself

out of the heart that doesn’t belong to me,

the body I have to share.

You don’t have to hear the funeral procession

the mockingbird performs as I pull on my shirt

and close the door.

ABOUT:

Kalina Smith (she/her) is mostly a poet, though she also writes fiction and creative nonfiction. She teaches high school English and creative writing, where she spends her days nurturing young storytellers and navigating the emotional labor of the classroom. Her work has appeared in Nebo, The Ignatian, FLARE: The Flagler Review, ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry, Tulsa Review, and many others, with work forthcoming in The Dawn Review, Porcupine, Superfan, Micromance, and more. She served as the poetry editor for Shadowplay during the Spring of 2025. Kalina's first chapbook, Scorpio Season, has been accepted for publication by Kelsay Books. You can find her on Instagram @kalinasmithpoetry.

EDITOR'S SONG PAIRING: LarkinPoe ---- Mockingbird