Life List
When my eyes
roll away like two marbles
Into a low corner of the kitchen floor,
And clatter down the vacuum's throat,
Then I will buy Birding by Ear.
I will learn
to know crow caw from jay bray,
The woodpecker's jackhammer beakbang,
Chip of chipping sparrow, bluckle of cooped-up hen,
Pigeon coo and dove moo-moo,
And the road-rage honk of long-commuting geese.
The 2River View, 4_1 (Fall 1999))