Birds Before the Storm    

 

 

Yard trees full of birds

though the population shifts

moment to moment

—winds sweeping

them in and out in shifts,

pushing them out of the low dark stratus

in birdcolored clusters

 

Tiny birds, yardbirds,

Large black and white blue birds

prancing dictatorially

small commonbirds moving

in clouds of knowing grace,

jays which stoop down

in raucous arcs,

like businesspeople coming

   back from trips,

robins throb in the dogberry trees

—and last of all, thinking

every other bird is gone,

a pair of staggering doves,

wobbly on the phonelines

© 2002,2004 Thomas N. Dennis

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