Aubade with a Mockingbird Witness By Kalina Smith
- VFORROW
- May 24
- 2 min read

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
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