Murmuration at Jack’s Pizza
by Alene Terzian-Zeitounian
They descend like a pandemonium
of parrots, fluffed and squawking:
Leo dumped his girlfriend at Taco Bell,
left her standing with a bean burrito
and mascara running.
Cockatoo says, Who does that?
They all nod, Yeah, who does that?
Cockatoo, in green crop top
and last month’s Yeezy’s, is all plumage
and puff. Says, Oh my god!
I would hate to be dumped at Taco Bell!
So low-rent. No one deserves that.
They agree, No one deserves that.
They huddle around cockatoo’s phone
like survivors trying to keep warm,
Can you believe how hot Jason is?
He’s like Charlie Puth but hotter.
Macaw preens, No way! No one is hotter
than Charlie. Lovebird molts, Charlie, fuck,
he’s the hottest. Of. Them. All.
It’s a fact.
At 4 o’clock, they rise, shake off
pizza crumbs, and walk out, foragers
let loose and circling. Cockatoo says,
Text me the answers to the math homework.
Macaw and Lovebird admire her floral tights,
bare belly, the tiny blonde hairs
on her arms, Yes, they say. See ya!
and break formation.
Dr. Alene Terzian-Zeitounian is the Humanities Department Chair at College of the Canyons where she teaches creative writing. She is also the faculty advisor for cul-de-sac, COC’s Literary and Arts Magazine. Her works have appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, Colorado Review, Mizna, and Rise Up Review among others.
You can read the entire This Makes up the Sky series by visiting: https://womenwhosubmitlit.org/category/the-sky/
So clever and funny! Love it!