Issue > Poetry

Sharon Mast

Sharon Mast teaches students with disabilities at New Rochelle High School in Westchester County, New York. She has studied poetry at Sarah Lawrence College, Frost Place, Poets House, and SUNY Stony Brook Southampton. While her doctoral dissertation in sociology (Stages of Identity: A Study of Actors) was published decades ago, this is her first poetry publication.

Parakeet Sister

I hug my parakeet sister,
frail from cancer,
fanning my feathers
with the wingspan and resolve
of a hawk guarding its young.
She once had a grip so strong,
I felt more claws than wings.
That warrior lives inside her,
composed and centered
on the task at hand,
survival.
She readies herself for the rigors
of winter's migratory flight.