Ode to all the Birds


You wake before dawn shivering
so much you almost fall out of bed.
Cold pierces flesh into bones.
You turn on the bedside lamp –nothing.
But a dull click. Your power is out again,
living off the grid is no fun.
You hop to the closet with bare feet,
dig out the blue and purple down comforter.
Staring at it makes you drowsy. You snuggle under it.
The window is caked with snow.
You close your eyes, count birds in your mind.
You hear something banging in your living room.
Draped in your comforter, you venture out.
Your empty bird feeder is swinging
in blistering wind, hitting the bay window.
The birds must be freezing hungry in this February blizzard.
You know black capped chickadees are hours
away from death in icy blizzards. Like refugees on the sea.
You fill the feeder with black oil sunflower seed, most nutritious.
The black capped chickadees swarm the feeder
flying from the swaying crab apple tree.
Funny, they look like Muslim women in hijabs.
Nuthatches eat upside down. Eight birds on feeder--
1.     nuthatch,
2.     black capped chickadee,
3.     huge red-headed woodpecker,
4.     baby-like sparrow,
5.     black capped chickadee,
6.     titmouse,
7.     black capped chickadee,
8.     red finch.

Funny, look at this diverse mix of species,
all eating at the same table.