feed

such a pretty moment
when I got
to sit in a friend’s chair
sipping guest
coffee
watching and hearing birds
around the feeders

and of these
there was a small brown
and
a black one
and I wish I knew more
as
my grandfather knew
who
charted birds
when the Department
of Interior had
been
formed

yet I don’t know the species
sigh

there was a bird with a bright hood
which was a woodpecker
I think
and one flyer a small pigeon to
me
anyway

and there came a squirrel
which did not
scurry anything away
but
picked at the ground with its paws
the ways the birds
had used
their beaks
and
through air on branches
on the earth

so maybe everyone got satisfied
and also
was pleased

thanks
friend
for the chair
the coffee
and the hour
so
I could think
My Lord
what a morning

as fresh sun strikes the trees
and feeding happened
for
the birds and other critters
in metal branches
and what is
tied
all over and on
for gleaning of the sun-rinsing
ground

c l couch


photo by Bill Pennell on Unsplash