misplaced

with my camera

i caught you

camouflaged wonder

when you erred and docked

on deep red oak leaves



unexpectedly observed

your antennae and kneecaps blushed

your ovoid eyes reddened

your ridged back sunburned slightly

to match your flushed toes



i caught you

wondering at my camera

should you dodge or freeze

framed for one shot

and, unabashed, two

First Deer

cautiously peering, grazing,

freezing, unsure spring's

finery will linger long

a.m.

6:09

peering into the dark

I am confident

that the sun will rise

as predicted

the

shadowy

               shapes

                   of

               trees

         writhe

            in

         the

              wind

the cloud banks pink luminous even before

6:09

but when the night

had no wizards

to make comforting

pronouncements

how

long

the

dark

before

6:09

twilight

slowly the mourning dove strolls

gleaner of early-birds' seed showers



spring whispers the sun to sleep

beneath the soft cover of clouds

Starless

How slowly the clouded

night passes without the

march of constellations

to mark the time.

Great Blue Heron

Master of Stealth among the reeds,

Fish Snatcher, Frog Catcher,

neck looped tight to spring,

yet

frightened to flight

you labor to gulp air under your wings,

struggling to glide overhead while

trailing those comic-book,

stick-drawn legs.

Walls

Softened by lichen and moss

moistened by morning dew

deep into the dark earth

the stones creep.



Snaking along the margins

of skeleton grey farms

the stones rise again

resurrected by heaving frosts.

Cardinals

How can you leave

yet?

You must hunger

still!

The slightest shadow

fear

instills in you.

Both

fly to brush,

blink.

One more bite?

No;

flown to pines.

transient footsteps

the waves wash

                    over
and under

          the waves wash

                                                                       
red stone worn

smooth and wet

                   thin
layers ancient

lifting away floating

                         away dinosaur track

now bottom once top

till ages filled

                   steps
with silt

will my print

                          fill
erode reveal

                     smooth
and red

            wet
sandstone worn

                                                                          
the waves washing

                      under
and over

                                                                                
the waves wash

              over
and under

the waves wash

The Wild, Wild East

Black crow’s
harassing white-tailed hawk again,

arctic cold
dangling icicles from their wings when

they fail to
flap, gliding in the spinning wind.

It’s ripped
their wings and rattled their brains.

I’m not
going out, not me.

Round brown
sparrow’s flown right down junco’s hungry throat,

the arctic
cold drifting snow over spring’s lean offerings, and when

they plunge
off the feeder and lose their seat at the table,

nuthatch and
chickadee snatch their seeds and spittoon the hulls.

I’m not
going out, not me.

Red-capped woodpecker
and cardinal watching, wind-whipped,

perch on
arctic-iced twigs and dream that when

their
feathered ‘friends’ smash each other to the ground,

they can snatch
a bite and reel back to the safe, soft pines.

I’m not
going out, not me.

At the Feeder

While the snow whirls

the junco,
gray and white,

shares the
sunflower

seeds at the
feeder

with the
sparrow, brown and rust,

but not

his own kin

a second
junco, gray and white,

at whom he
rages

casts back

into
the storm

while at
school

the twins and

triplets fight

fur and
feather

tooth and
nail

and worldwide

fellow
artists

scientists

poets

inventors

politicos

philosophize

extemporize

minimize

undermine

each others’

designs

and

dreams

too

close

to

their

own

.

Spring Suspension

Sharp and icy

winter's knife

slices through spring's soft

shimmering rain

scattering snowflakes

on red-breasted robins

sunny goldfinches

foraging mice,

and silencing

the daffodils'

trumpet song.

Tentative Territories

Bald Eagle, National Bird, please

                  do not eat

those terrified waterfowl migrants fleeing.