birds
heads under heaps of wings
suddenly stir

and
the telephone wire
is suddenly alive

with
songbird-gentle
chirps

with
owl-vicious
hoots

with
raven-mysterious
caws

and yes,
i know there are
too many poems

about birds
but you just have to remember
the raven

can mimic human speech
and sounds
so nevermore might not be such a stretch

that some ducks
sleep with one eye open
just like the women who lack trust

and that mockingbirds
can preserve songs
of extinct creatures

with bones too hollow
to stash anger or regret
and eyes bright enough
to see the daybreak
hours before all of us