its a bitchan unfortunate bitch about
feeding his hummingbirdstheyre his in a
sense of ownership only because he buys
the pounds of sugar boils up simple syrup and refills the five quart
feeders a smaller one is on the other
side of the house
three dozen birds
he has three dozen
sparkling iridescent dartingflutteringhovering birds that are neverstill long enough for him to
identify one from another
and the bitchthe bitch of feeding
them
unfortunately is that occasionally one falls prey to his
outdoor feral catswho also are his in a
sense of ownership because he feeds them
too he feeds two wet food and
kibble but only kibble to the most
recent arrival Robert who his indoor feral female october swoons to he cautions herhes actually disappointed in
her taste and enthusiasm Hes no Robert Redford october a big orangeblonde tom who adopted him a year ago appearing as bigfoot had five years prior and
wee did three years ago outofnowhere
his daughters called him a cat
whisperer
apparently they feel they have
to go there
Yup he concedes that must be why
I have a hard time shaking all the pussy that makes plays on me
Jesusdad!
that always made him smile
Comon grrls you know that animals like small children recognise
who feeds themcares for themis kind to them Thats all there is as Peggy Lee sang
he watches their mouthstheir jaws
move behind their quiet lips they wanna say
morethey wanna refute him but they hold their remarks
they knew the slickness of his humourhow
coarse it could be they knew he could be
as raunchy as scratch ‘n sniff Hustler spreads (he was a big fan of Larry
Flynts First Amendment rights Majority
rule only works if you’re considering individual rights. Because you can’t have
five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for dinner.)
they knew their father and they knew him as well as they did because
he made a pointmade damn sure well they did Were going be adults and close friends longer than I played my part
helping raise you as your father
three dozen sparkling iridescent
dartingflutteringhovering birds
though unfortunately feeding them
was akin to staking a goat in ones yard to keep the grass down
his inlaws who lived in the hills
outside of town tried keeping a goat for that purpose
Yagotta be kiddin he thought
how they didnt knowhow
were they so ignorant of the mountain lions that lived where they chose to
build their home
Christ Cant see it coming as obvious as the sun glints off flakes of
panned gold or sunlight plays in the facets of a diamond ring
Better the goat he thought than his nephews
Place yer bets! Place yer bets!
Ladies and gentleman place your bets!
Step right up now place yer bets!
he opened his mouthmade his piece
they said he amusing thanked him for his superfluous concern
the night the lion got their goat
they heard it scream
coming outside with flashlights they
found it dead its neck broken still
tethered to a metal stake
theyd bury it in the morning
they went back inside smart
when they came out later that
morning to bury the goat it was gone a
blood trail and dragged ground showed the lion went off into into the thicket
into the wooded ravine below
they decided they wouldnt follow
after all it was their intention to dispose of the body
What are you
standing on he said under his breath to a hawk he saw that was perched
on the tippytop of a redwoodthe very tippytop and bathed in the goldenred hue
of the sun it setting its light filtering through the smoke of
distant wildfires
natural things thrilled him
when Man gets his hands on
natural things he taints them no matter
their original intent their unnatural involvement is a detriment
we think we know
we dont
its a matter of our big brains
shrieking like apesscreaming yankingshaking themselves clasping the steel bar
of their cages in their fistswith their feet with enmity and scorn and outrage
two other hawks found
the redwood wound their way circled glinted gold against the blue sky then fluttered
to a perch in boughs under the occupied tippytop spike
the majestic redwood had always made
a fine roost
last week as he refilled the
feeders at the entry gate into the sideyard almost beneath a feeder he noticed on
the gravel in the dirt five iridescent
feathers
he stooped he fingered them evidence he lost a bird
he decided to keep them
a grim but beautiful
reminder even if he didnt know which bird
it was
there was nothing he could do
he did though grieve its
anonymous death
he was forced to accept and acknowledge this was Natures Waythe circle of wild life
he also had to accept he was explicitly
involved in the hummingbirds death
looking back up into the redwood
the three hawks dematerialisedhe looked away but for a moment or maybe they flew off
he took the five feathers into
the house and laid them in an antique Japanese rice bowl his motherinlaw gave
to him
she remarked as she handed him the bowl that
she noticed every time he visited her home he admired it how he would eventually he slip the family
and quietly find his way to the china cabinet in the living room where she
kept her familys heirlooms the bowl was four centuries old her familys lineage was samurai they protected the Royal Emperor Japans livingbreathing deity
he couldnt thank herhis words
caught in his throathis emotions were too high
eventually he did
he didnt keep the rice bowl
behind glass he used it ate his sticky
rice out of it with chopsticks maybe it got to be four centuries old because it was put away it wasnt functional but he commiserated with the bowl and he used
it for what it was meant he couldnt
imagine if he wasnt allowed to be what he was meant for
feeding the birds this morning he
found five hummingbird feathers scattered on the ground at the gates entry into
the sideyard
he stood for a long time looking
down on them
they were scatteredas best he
could remember so very similar to the
five he had found last week it was odd to lose a second bird in only two
weeks he lost birds rarely one a week wasnt rare
he stooped
they were actually therehis eyes
werent playing tricks on him
he fingered them they moved when he pushed them with his
fingernail
they were there
he gathered them in his palm as
he did with the five last week this was insanetoo similar
he went into the house
he left the Japanese rice bowl on
top the pine cupboard in the kitchen beside a modern kachina his motherinlaw
also had given him
the bowl was empty
perplexed
he set the five feathers into the
bowl
they laid in the same alignment
as last week
last
week?
had
that happened?
1540, Sunday,
11 11. 18
1148, Twosday, 13
11. 18
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