This place heals me
and wounds me.
I face west on castle grounds,
execute salutations to the sunset
stretching through up-dog and down.
Enchanting ivy grows lush
and wild over thresholds 
and across archways. It climbs 
the outside of the towers and creeps 
into windows and door frames.
Finches build their own castle nest 
inside the aviary. They lay eggs 
and have offspring that can’t survive—
voices lost in the middle of a song.
Three levels below, termites feast,
hollow the bones of this beast,
gather their numbers
and plan to ascend. This place
heals and wounds, though...

Won’t it be fascinating to witness
the chew through?
Hounds released, 
the topple of the towers,
ivy burned to its roots, 
and the un-caged birds 
set free.

Shyla Shehan is an analytical Virgo who has spent the majority of her life in the midwest. She holds an MFA in Writing from the University of Nebraska where she received an American Academy of Poets Prize in 2020. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Gyroscope Review, Wild Roof Journal, The Raw Art Review, and her chapbook, “Unsuspecting Cinderella,” will be released later this year. Shyla is the co-founder and EIC of The Good Life Review and currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska with her husband, children, and four cats. All this and more at shylashehan.com.