in memory of my student, 2000-2019
After last spring’s
surprise grackle attack
and the autumn squirrels’
burgling
acrobatics
I almost didn’t fill
the feeders this year.
They came back,
the heavy-set doves
content to peck
what falls in the dirt,
the bullying blue jays,
the cardinal—always so startling
to see that red,
that beak blot
of orange.