Andi Stout
Little Albino Cardinal
Image by Paul Hurtado
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Little Albino Cardinal
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She sits on a homemade
poplar fence cut from trees in an Appalachian backyard. Powdered flurries collecting at the elbow, Her body is a plump, but naked snow cone splashed in chocolate and strawberry feathers swirl at her back-- harbinger of differences she carries. Born an anomaly, she flies north while everyone else is flying south, perplexing even her own kind. Beak caked in snow, melting with body heat, because she’s not afraid to dig deep. At dusk, when the sky begins to purple, she’ll perch at the mouth of the mine alone to sing for shift change. |
Andi Stout is an Appalachian writer from Belington, WV. She received her MFA from West Virginia University where she currently teaches. Her first book, Tiny Horses Don’t Get A Choice, was recently published and is nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry.