at Tulsa Tough Bike Race

“Each year is a surprise that the world can turn green again.  It is the grandest surprise in life, the birds coming back from the south to my open arms, which they fly past, aiming for the feeders.”

            -from the poem “Winter, Spring” by Jim Harrison

 

THE FLEDGLING

We built a cedar bluebird house a few years ago

and nailed it to the sycamore tree.  My daughter
chose the Peterson design, thinking it looked like
something that would hang from a fencepost at
a rustic mountain cabin. 

We were surprised to discover bluebirds didn’t care

about aesthetics, because they never came.  Instead
a pair of working class sparrows moved in.  And every
year since the bluebird house has provided sanctuary
to fledgling sparrows.  Even the common sparrow
deserves a decent home instead of a sodden rain gutter. 

But this year one of the fledglings didn’t fly away. 

It fell to the ground between the horror of the
lawnmower and my pouncing dog.  It evaded both,
and I heard its cries over the noise of the mower. 
But I lost track of the fledgling, fearing the worst,
until I heard it chirp from under the rose bush. 

I thought, what a lucky bird, to elude death three times. 

We are usually not so lucky.  Sometimes it happens
in war but is rare there too.  But in the end nature holds
all the cards.  The fledgling had one shot to get it right,
to fly from the tree, or concede the inevitability of death
on the hard Earth. 
 

Sparrow in the Peterson Bluebird House

 

They were my size but thought I'd leave them there for the sake of art
Paseo Arts District, OKC



Video game circuit card
Farmer's market area
OKC



Thankfully I was able to crop the "vote for Donald Trump" sign in the window