print previewback AUSTIN SEGREST
Yellowhammer
state bird of Alabama
Not yellow much or much of a hammer.
His brain, the mass of two paper clips,
spared what hammering there is,
the force diffusing through his bones like grace.
Between wingbeats, a lull, a loping measure
like the mind repulsed at the edge of sleep
or dropping to the next line or stanza.
Doesn’t raise hairs or the dead with his rebel yell,
nor maketh he much of a pretty singing.
No more a coward than the rest of his kingdom,
glorious bright striking light of redemption
he is not. Yellibama, hallelujah, yellowhammer—
another name by violence yoked together.
The Missouri Compromise
Yellowhammer