Cathartes aura
Turkey vulture
Raja Lewis
The Vulture
Lives in the sky & sleeps on the mountain.
She spans a shadow across the desert floor
& eclipses the sun. On the ground is where
you’ll find their eggs & see the naked
reddish head like a turkey.
Nobody wants to sing a song
about vultures or write them into
children’s books. No one likes
to think of its next meal
dead or rotting carrion
along a roadside they’re waiting
patiently for the cars to roll by.
Soaring black wings six feet
outstretched, your grandeur
is in your wings the way
you glide circling the dry open
country. In the sky
your beauty is unspeakable
how you fill the afternoon blue
flying suspiciously investigating
the rock scouting for prey.
Only the eagle & the condor
outsize this vulture
but I’ll take her
in this desert heat
the silent saguaro, cholla
& the mesquite trees
filled with boisterous
cicada, the smell of rain
so far away.
~~~~~
Raja Lewis is from Kansas and grew up in the western United States. She is interested in sports and poetry. Writing is an everyday practice and she loves it more than anything.