For the Birds

      by Gina Cohen, Nicholas Klacsanzky, and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Presence #58, July 2017, page 74. Originally written on 6 July 2016 after a three-mile hike to the waterfront at Saint Edward State Park in Kenmore, Washington.


uphill walk . . .
crows call to each other
across the sky                                                                Gina

        from which window
        will the swallow come out next?                           Nicholas

empty beach—
sandpiper tracks
end at the bicycle track                                                 Michael

        calling to the chickadee
        it answers back                                                     Gina

parking lot seagull—
the white line
even whiter                                                                   Nicholas

        my daughter’s little finger
        on the hummingbird nest                                      Michael