Come To Tell Me Of A Change

 

 Come To Tell Me Of A Change

 

 

I lost an angel in last night's smoke clouds

I lost my real name and took on an impostor's

Mom found a robin’s egg and saved it from a timber rattlesnake's mouth

I found myself shaking alone in the bedroom, silver clouds pale gray through the drawn gold curtain, the pink and black comforters twisted like a rope around my legs, and I pulled myself out of bed

 

I found the woodpecker’s knock to be obnoxious as I tried and failed to sleep in this morning

I found he wasn’t there when I answered the door

We lost the warmth on this cold April afternoon, making it feel like we’re back in frigid January

Nature lost her keys to the Town and Country and her mind

 

Thought I lost a demon when I shook it off my tail, and trapped it under the bed

Lost blood, a finger, and a nose defending myself

I found brightness and blackness, the cherry blossom in all that darkness

I found the robin’s egg in the refrigerator, an incubator, as if it’s a time capsule, with the hope of delivering life back

 

We found out we carry the heart of Earth and the spirit of Outer Space inside us

After we found cancer in the bone

And lost what we were dreaming of

I lost a baseball as it rolled out of my glove and into the gutter behind a chain-linked fence

 

I lost an hour in Rain City, washed by skyscrapers at a wet and dripping distance

And I lost Saturday time with my lover, but we fucked it back later that night

I found an hour in Chicago, deep in a deep-dish pizza

And found this dream city is more real than waking life.

 

 Mitchell Flanagan

 

Mitchell Flanagan is an artist, writer, and musician from Newburgh, New York. His poems appeared in The Chronogram in August 2010, December 2011, and August 2012. His poems have also appeared in Spillwords August 2025 and Mad Swirl October 2025. His work appeared in Ariel Chart in April 2020, April and December 2021, January 2023, and June 2025, when he was nominated for Ariel Chart's 2023 and 2025 Pushcart Prize for literature. In addition, he's working on a collection of short stories, novels, and poetry books. His band is Smoky Highway.