4. The Wire

Then the tree if not time
at least Art Blakey--
hard bop with a touch
of the parade ground,
in a good way--
the orderly handling by
many bird species
crowded up amongst
the short-term food
emergency--giving way
on the good branches,
keeping beefs short etc.--
then everybody gets their
designated seconds of
bark digging umolested
maybe some eavestrough
spider web, but stepping up
clean and bright
in bandstand order with
a solo worked up ahead of time
so that routine becomes display
and spring can start to operate.