It’s the dignity of pigeons, their imperious
head tilts, surveilling their domain. No one understands
that. They don’t have the same impediments. Imagine
subway tunnels if you were eight inches long and had
wings. An American Tail was right about the crown
on the Statue of Liberty. Only pigeons could
do that. Imagine having the scope of the city
exceed you by that much and still strutting around like
you were its sole proprietor. Everything on the
ground, yours. Everything in the air. The water is wide,
but you can go o’er. Wings to fly, man, wings. Dignity
dripping from their feathers, soaking through the soot. Just think—
we’re leaving it behind. One day this will all be theirs.

Gemma Cooper-Novack’s debut poetry collection We Might As Well Be Underwater (Unsolicited Press, 2017) was a finalist for the CNY Book Award. She’s published chapbooks with Warren Tales and The Head & the Hand. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in more than fifty journals; her plays have been produced across the United States. Gemma was a winner of Syracuse University’s 2023 All University Doctoral Prize for her hybrid poetic dissertation exploring the writing lives of LGBTQ+ teenagers.