—IT’S NOT HARD TO FORGET SOMEONE YOU NEVER KNEW

 

 

Front

 

The birds come

chittering with

their good news

refitting the nest

they’ve been sweating

over for weeks

beaks tweaking the

exact placement

of each twig

and dollop of mud

the way a spinster

shifts yarn upon a loom

fashioning cashmere

shawls for royalty

though there’s

something else beneath

their gaiety and duty

an unspoken code perhaps

or else something simpler

such as the

meaning of life

lifted there in that

unreachable eave

of this house

with its broken bones

and for sale sign

stuck at a slant

on the sun-scorched

front lawn