Day 726, June 28, 2022

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Bird Watching

I watched a blue heron circle high overhead. 
It seemed impossibly high 
for something so delicate and graceful. 
Its arc took magnificent breast strokes over where I stood 
and then I lost it behind some buildings, 
and then it reappeared 
like a flight from Heathrow coming in for an approach at Logan. 
Give me a piece of sky like this, 
it seemed to be saying, 
and I will give you your wildest dreams, 
if your wildest dreams are eternal peace. 
There were no clouds in the sky 
and looking up was like looking at a child’s bedroom ceiling, 
the surface of a glacial lake, 
the wall of a diorama at the Science Museum. 
Impoverished, 
the news said, 
dire consequences, 
women turned to drug dealers, 
twenty years, 
the witness, 
a lack of basic communication. 

Each wing beat a breath, 
like blowing a soft candle out.







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