Birds Are Not Lizards
No, birds are not lizards; birds are kin to us:
I’ve seen a grackle rush from here to there
for no apparent reason.
I’ve seen a lover-loser
stab the earth with tiny beak,
just as Xerxes spanked the sea
that sank, he thought, his ships.
I’ve seen a sycophantic gull
be waiter at an osprey’s feast.
I’ve seen sparrows ranged along a wire
as evenly as saw teeth,
each within his group
but jealous of his space.
I’ve seen buzzards in dusty sable
convened pro tem
around a flattened armadillo,
the table and the corpus
for their disputation.
I’ve seen crows raid a nest
and then, like cravens,
flee from smaller redwings.
I’ve seen pigeons sully metal heroes,
seen them bloody a brother
that had a broken wing.
Yes, birds are not lizards; birds are kin to us.
