97poems/insistent

INSISTENT

Sometimes I see some bird
perching at the top of the tree,
insistent upon it,
demanding a place to sit
where really there is
no place at all,
just the intersection of breeze
and the feathery bend of a branch.

I watch them then,
as I watch this crow
just now
in the neighbor’s eucalyptus,
cling tight
and raise their wings for balance,
as the place where they are
and can not be,
gives way beneath them.

I see how they hold on
and begin again
and begin again,
weaving the wind
and limb,
weaving the wind
and limb,
weaving the wind
and limb,

until they’re free
to be
where they are.

I know I must do
what this crow is doing,
make a place for myself
where there seems to be none,
create something from nothing,
a skill I have prided myself in
but forget to use.

3/21/97