The Birds

Several times over the past month, this has been the scene: my girlfriend and I wake up in the middle of the night, and without fail, we proceed to make…

Aerophobia –inspired, at least in part, by Rilke’s “Sonnets To Orpheus, Part Two, XII”   sleeplessness: insomnia, like doubt, befalls the listless. the autopsy of interactions and thoughtloop of potential…

The Swimming Birds The top of the lake Is a solid white slab Seared through With hairline cracks. Because of people, Because of strolling, The top of the lake Also…

3 the falcon confronts the music the date smudged with names the grand parade when men leave church I can’t forget the first stories the way of birds announces itself…

THE PRINTMAKER This time, the scent the back-of-the-throat tang of fresh red ink cut with Citrasolv A thick bank of red cherry-slick and knifed out like a delicacy You roll…

My mother pulls the wooden box out from under her sink and there is the necklace I had been looking for all year. A small jeweled bird on a branch,…

Above the lively chorus of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up,” my dad expressed excited interest in a dead bird on the side of the dry CA I-5. I asked him…

Raptor On the phone, you describe a hawk stalking a wren on the woodpile. Probably a Cooper’s, you say, not sure which bird to root for. The hawk has all…

    Tuning into honking geese, a sneeze bouncing off the back of a bronze bust.               Heather McShane’s recent explorations involve pairing text…

Crow Totem   This soft, human flesh Proves insufficient covering Belies the strength of muscled mass Attached to ligaments inside of me The homo-sapien taxonomy Wasted on these weak stemmed…

DEAR DIARY Today I found a young pigeon in the garden. It was asleep for a very long time. When it started walking around with its eyes closed, I didn’t…

A big blue-gray bird, inscrutable Unknown species, though he seemed To know his way in the neighborhood, Fluttered to land with the big man’s grace, Nested outside William’s window The…

When I was seven I threw a stone at a bird’s nest The mother bird fell out along with one of her eggs Which hit the dirt first Cracked red…

Grandma, I love it when you swoop into the Crepe Myrtle. Your new body: a cardinal. Little flame, burning against the dawn, you look so peaceful preening your feathers. It…