Junco Partner


Two juncos, giddy & drunk with display
on the last available hookup day,
flew interlocking spirals toward the ground,
then with short hard strokes pivoted around
& flew to some pre-arranged and lofty space.
They did this in the dusty face
of burnt topsoil ("loamy slash") where
the little forest had been, hard against a bare
woodboard fence, so that everyone could see it.
By the fifth repetition their spiral was sweet--
if they'd have been eagles they could have locked feet--
until the last moment, a foot off the yard,
they parted as if pushed, not pivoting but hard
hard down for one two point landings in the dust.
After shaking off the landing, the bird just
beside the fence turned toward it, lowered its head
and ran under it, fast, towards the shed.
The other bird followed bam! then gone
and they footchased each other onto the lawn
for quite a few feet before turning south
toward the old alders behind the house,
a place where they would not be harassed--
with an odd, rolling gait, but really really fast.


(reworked from Spring 2005)