Power

Abstract

Power Elaine Johanson (bio) You want to hold the bird – the silkfeathers, the knob head – you want thebird to nestle in your hand. You wantthe bird to come. You will make the birdcome. You want the bird to want to come,to want your hand. You want someone totrain the bird to come to your hand. Tolove. To perform the dance of love. Tonestle in the act of love. Someone makethe bird come. Love. And if the birdrefuses, spread it across the pavementlike a thumb through paint, to teach theother birds how to come. How to love. What looks like mica, tumbling are little birds white bellied grey winged stabilizing at altitude. [End Page 80] Elaine Johanson Elaine Johanson is a Philadelphia based writer and artist. Her book, AND AND (Elm Twig Press, 2020), is a chapbook of poems and photographs with photographer Jan C. Almquist that explores her family’s history and her own Korean identity. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Me Southern Review, jubilat, the Midwest Video Poetry Festival, and Salmagundi. Her work in wheelthrown ceramics explores lightness and balance, and this physical practice has come to inform her writing. Copyright © 2022 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents