Underfeather

5:00am, flat English grey.

[ in velvet ]

Begin again at the throat. The swan keeps its name buried there – swen, to sound – so that to call it aloud is to lay one finger on a hidden bell.

You wanted the word for the skin that covers new horn. In velvet, the keepers say, while the stag’s antlers stay tender, fed by blood and able to bruise. You were in velvet then. So was I.

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