A Grackle Observed Watching the black grackle come out... into the sun, I am dazzled by an unsuspected sheen, yellow, purple and green, ...until he, … - Lisel Mueller

A Holy Madness
To say thou to the sun
and call the wind brother;
to be humble before a grain of sand
and speak familiarly to the sea;
to preach to the birds in earnest
...o holy love, sweet lunacy,
which of us, seeing a child
exhorting a deaf robin,
does not bless that child
for the paradise in his head?
Be praised, my Lord, for Francis,
brother to lilies...

Pigeons
...Once they were elegant, carefree;
they called to each other in rich, deep voices,
and we called them doves
and welcomed them to our gardens.

In The Rag And
Bone Shop
Trade me, shopkeeper Yeats,
one filthy rag, one bone
that can make poetry
for all the jeweled bits.
...A rag to light a fire,
a bone to whistle on!
Proprietary, proud...