Birds

– Jose A. Alcantara

Audio Poem

I

I am an inverse bowerbird.
I am a destroyer of nests.

Every shiny object, every button,
every bottle cap, every aluminum pull tab
that I find, I toss away.

I have even started plucking my own feathers.
I give them to those I love.
The ones nobody wants, I set free on the wind.

II

I am a hush-throated warbler.
singing my song of silence all day long.

I sing too loudly for most people to hear.
Sometimes I sing so long that my throat hurts
and then I have to stop.

When that happens, sit and talk with me.
Just keep talking until I learn to love you.
That’s how I get my song back.