CLEARCUT

Why this din
these boughs nervous with birds more
descending out of the sky crowding into the last tree

for miles trilling
like a green lathe the crush
and cluster of wings bursting forth circling and plunging

back onto the limbs
their only perch they have come
to ease their shoulders before flying on manic clamorous

the craunching
and revving sounds they’ve learned
traveling among us a feathery host spattering the leaves

a jittery
choir atonal off its hinges
their fierce singing their recognizable desperate psalm.

SECOND NATURE