Rebecca Faulkner
Rebecca Faulkner is a London-born poet, arts educator, and climate activist. Her poems have been published in Solstice Magazine, Smoke Magazine, Wild Roof Journal, Pedestal Magazine, The Maine Review, On the Seawall, Into the Void, and other journals. She was anthologized in the Best New British and Irish Poets 2019-2021, and was a semifinalist for the 2021 Red Wheelbarrow Prize. Rebecca was a 2021 Poetry Fellow at the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Leeds, and a Ph.D. from the University of London. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Feathers & Bones
There are many carcasses,
hundreds of thousands falling
out of the sky in a two-mile
stretch inland, just in front
of my house. Over a dozen
flycatchers, swallows and warblers,
a volume of deaths both common
and sensitive, inexplicable. Before
dying to reach winter grounds
three billion have been lost
mid-flight, damaged, starving,
until they just couldn’t fly
any more. The curve-billed
thrashers, great-tailed grackles
and white-winged doves know
what is happening. Death coming
at them from all sides, urging
in a winter sky. To see this
has given me chills. What little
is remaining I can’t say.
Rebecca Faulkner is London-born children’s rights advocate, climate activist and poet. Her recent work has appeared in Passengers, Quarantine Zine and Indolent Books’ What Rough Beast. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from the University of London. Faulkner lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
Act Now: Two thirds of North American birds are at growing risk of extinction from global temperature rise. If we make immediate changes, we can improve the chances for hundreds of bird species. Take action locally by reading the Audubon Society’s Climate Action Guide – https://www.audubon.org/climate-action-guide