Magpie
Picking up objects;
mornings and evenings
flash of black–
a thief revealed.
Keeping days in his nest,
he covets the moon by slivers.
Robin
Chases the pink slash of the morning,
tugging up the sun
mining with
a short beak
the elastic protest
of his breakfast.
Mockingbird
She lives in thrall of others’ voices.
Lost in a fog of jasmine,
you never see the mockingbird.
Crow
Returning like the dust blown back
news from other mountains.
Now beneath his notice
hand-in-hand, two scarecrows.
Owl
She knows her night song
does not betray
the muffled shush
of her dive.
Gull
His wings are diacritics
explaining the sea.
His cries, a gloss
on the horizon.
