the average ruby-throated hummingbird weighs less than a nickel,
by Caroline Fuller
apparently, weight gain is a side-effect of the pill
but also of muffins and cream
my belly button purses her lips in mockery when I ask which it is
it is Monday
my closet is a moody teenager
and I am her exasperated mother
my roommate’s makeup is strewn across the dresser like children’s playthings—
no—I suppose like painters’ palettes
I found three new freckles today
two on my right forearm
one more on my left shin
I turn to my desk for a pair of tweezers
(reckless eyebrows)
and notice a hummingbird outside the window.
count one-one-thousand,
two,
three,
four,
before it pulls its nose out of a flower and
I try to track it through the air
but 25 percent of its nickel-weight is in its pecs
and so it speeds away
