“The Canadian jay is a deep, dark, chalky blue with charcoal head and tail. It prefers whole wheat soda crackers to burnt bagels, and tilts its head sideways when beaking rainwater off a deck rail…”
1.
Behind
small river tumbles down
a noisy hill
Snowless
mountains surround big
bowl of cloudy sky
Is it golfy air?
Promises drops and
cool breezy But hey!
They spend long
money to travel
this two lane with
no centre line
So of course
We primp, prep, shop
We substantiate, subordinate
We gratefully grate
It waits blue
on rocky bank
for its next meal
2.
Snowmelt
falling down a
hillside of rocks
sounds like traffic in the
city:
never ending, no pause
like the over-revved energy
of men in suits
out of them
Pump up, nail down,
get loose, party hard,
bang and clang,
hoot and howl before
next week comes
We cook, clean, iron
We coordinate, capitulate
We wait
It’s back
let’s name it:
“Red”
3.
Soft
is the rain
that falls on the game,
that feeds these trees
and slows time
where mountain tops
hide in mist
What secret dreams?
of souls come and gone
Roads twist and confuse,
bodies unwind
Hot tub, cold drinks
driven on to greater ribaldry
by the Captain of Fun
We relax, replay, remember
We cooperate, congregate
We relate
Who will feed it?
As if our brief vacation
brings meaning to the life of a bird