“Altricial/Precocial” originated out of conversations with relatives I’d long depended on–before I could recognize my own dependence on them–when I was recently switching residences and discussing what has changed about the process of changing homes. 

she gives us a pot of thyme and mints
says they’re the easiest to keep alive
and later I hear her, taste her hoping
through the mildewed fence, the screened-in porch, the plastered walls
that we’ll mention our new garden
sprung only from her welcome gift
so we all can talk of water or light
when we step out to walk the dog, take out the trash, check the mail
and I can feel her thickening hope
opening a box in an open garage
that still does not seem my own
but just a possession belonging to a time, a history, a generation
who actually talked of things
in a manner that embossed
them in a rich love that I,
altricial, struggle to know past my child, my dog, my parakeet

 

 

 

 

(Ed. note: Altricial animals are hatched or born in an undeveloped state, requiring care and feeding by the parents, while precocial are hatched or born in an advanced state and able to feed themselves almost immediately.)