A contrast of light and shadow,
an acrobatic space unfolding where
the real cavorts with the imaginary.

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus

Stunning even the air,
a surprise attack with the light touch
of a buzz saw,
a hostile treasure hunt
bears unlikely fruit.
 

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Grackle | Quiscalus quiscula

Winter memories on a hot day,
wind-tossed songbirds tumble through a storm
like broken toys falling from
the hand of tired young Zeus.
 

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus

A cardinal with escape fantasies,
vehicle for brave new points of view,
a laid-back aerialist dissolving in
flickering shades of red.
 

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Cardinal | Cardinalis cardinalis

Alert to the rumor of twilights past and still to come,
a Black-crowned Nightn Heron hunts,
its understated style belying
a complex personality as simple
as a solar eclipse.
 

 From a trip to Miami Beach in March 2010.

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Black-crowned Night-Heron | Nycticorax nycticorax

Dispatch from a colder age
 

Chasing the summer’s heat,
a songbird leaps in a calculated arc,
and a star melts the cold country
beneath her wings.
 

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus

A shout-out with maximum sass,
breathing fire in a wild party’s aftermath,
fuelled by old seeds and wind,
the insane sky tyrant leads me nowhere.
 

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Starling | Sturnus vulgaris

A finch and a sparrow meet at an outdoor market,
a chance encounter on a sluggish day,
their transparent, plaintive cries
painlessly fading after a hasty parting.
 

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus
House Finch | Carpodacus mexicanus

Two rebellious songbirds full of nervous energy,
unlikely hybrids of wind and delirium,
avian punks go for broke without brakes,
a knockout with no chance to catch a breath.
 

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus

The original wet-head,
a songbird cavorts after a spring rain,
a choreographed dance dressed in toy-box colors,
light as a puff of smoke.
 

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus

The elusive Nuthatch was in my sights,
then it slipped through the air and was lost;
a wisp of wind cried out sharply,
as if woken by its passing.
 

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White-breasted Nuthatch | Sitta carolinensis