I want to remember

I want to remember the birds

their strange small beaks

pecking at parcels of sawdust

I cannot remember enough to know

were they bodies of bleak anger

or soft celebratory angels

you may wonder at such marvels

for me they are just birds

***

Ursula Shepherd has spent her life writing, worrying, and seeing the dark side of life. As an ecologist, she has watched the world dry and heat. She has also delighted in the beauty and writes in warning and in delight. She is the author of the book Nature Notes: a Notebook Companion to the Seasons (Fulcrum Publisher) as well as essays and other non-fiction pieces in various magazines. She has forthcoming poetry in Minnow and Unbroken.