Amy Bobeda
mating season late winter. a peep in snowfall. a gadfly or frenzy; estrus lasts a single hour three. thousand six hundred seconds to repopulate the prairie dog nation hope la lengua maternal bark cry belch chatter a prayer: only one-half-litter lives to summer Rites of Passage young male prairie dog em. barks cries. burrows into viaje del héroe losses himself in suburban closets digs las cavernas making boys into men madre naturaleza sengras los cuerpos niñas becoming mujeres madre natruraleza drawing moon string from bellies’ time boys work harder to become to initiate madre naturaleza’s gift women bore Female prairie dogs exhibit philopatry, defined as fidelity to one area, and do not commonly disperse from their birth territories. When or before they become sexually mature, male prairie dogs disperse away from their birth ward, thus avoiding any chance of inbreeding. Female prairie dogs will generally remain in their birth area for their entire lives, living with their mothers, sisters, aunts, counsins, and nieces. This localization strategy is called matrilocal (matri- from Latin for mother), and most female prairie dogs are matrilocal for their entire lives. –John Hoogland depression in dreams bleeds sadness, collects bacteria patterned homemakers fill holes red, bikes crashing bleeding peroxide skinned knees bead stick lesion patterns robin eggs blue clear colored propane, celadon glaze capillaries of trees spaced between ligament bark peels ember a sudden change cauterizes fire ants, red momentum wanes the biplane wings black tongues in water wide eyes hunched another prairie dog found dead infanticide is a number.
Amy holds an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics where she founded Wisdom Body Collective. Her work can be read/is forthcoming from Entropy, Vol1 Brooklyn, Denver Quarterly and elsewhere. @amybobeda on twitter.
Old Water Rat Publishing 