Redwing blackbird
whose song falls not
on thine deaf ears or
which does not come
from beak before thee
open in a pantomime
of speech or squawk—
in defense of little black
lover, hidden in
some verdant boughy
trellis. And both come
diving in on plumèd
wings of lust and of defense
and in so doing bring
night with them and in
vitriol raise hence
their song again to
utter ruination and
to fright
Flee
raise grimace on thy face
or faces and bat away
with awkwardly and too
big mandibles of hands
at black and plumèd
arrows falling and again
falling.
