Animals: “Crow Triptych” by Monique Quintana

crow triptych

truce locket 

Crow tried to haggle with the little crow at the wrecking yard but to no avail. Crow tried to make the statue come back alive to give the fool a piece of his mind. Crow tried to arrange the marbles in a straight line, but they kept falling down. Crow told his mother that it was sacrilege to drink from a crystal cup and not transform it into a queen. Crow wanted to dine on what crows were forbidden to dine on. Crow wanted the crystal to be cloudy, but it was clear.

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fam locket 

Crow blew water bubbles out of his mouth so hard that they shaped into his ancestors. Crow pecked the cold crackers in the morning dusk until they became the most remarkable but annoying gods. When crow was a boy, he told his friends that he would invent the most splendid flowers. Impossible, they said. Crow pondered the significance of cursing out his ancestors. Crow wanted to make his favorite soup in his favorite pot, but it was missing. He couldn't find it anywhere.

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ritual locket 

Crow began every morning plucking at his pillows, making them proper shapes, two animals that would become either friends or enemies as the day wore on.

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About Monique Quintana

Monique Quintana is a Xicana from Fresno, CA, and is the author of Cenote City (Clash Books, 2019). Her work has been published in PANK, Wildness, Lost Balloon, Okay Donkey, and The Acentos Review, among others. Her work has also been supported by Yaddo, The Sundress Academy for the Arts, The Community of Writers, and The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. She was the inaugural winner of Amplify's Writer of Color Fellowship and is a contributing editor at Luna Luna Magazine, where she writes book reviews, artist interviews, and personal essays. You can find her at moniquequintana.com.