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Instructions on Packing Your Nest When Air Borders are Closing

     Lena Zycinsky

1.      No twigs, no

         memory tokens. Strictly

         no family branches.

2.     Pack your feathers and papers

         with full names and sex.

 

3.     If alone, pack no hopes

         for a new nest, but a weighty

         prayer.

 

4.     If with a small child, pack toys.

         Stuff your bags with as many

 

         as you possibly can: a king and a queen,

         metal soldiers and miniature horses.

 

         The journey will be long. Plus,

         you want your child to grow

 

         up, knowing that home

         is a castle.

Lena Zycinsky is a poet and artist whose work appeared in the New York Times, Poetry Archive, Consequence Forum among other places. Author of numerous books and shows abroad, she holds a BA in English and is currently a low-residency MFA student at NYU in Paris. Born in Belarus, Lena lived in the USA and Greece, and now resides in London. 

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