The old man had a way about him
that made its way around him tying him
in knots turning him round and round in circles making him desperately dizzy as he watched dozens
of hummingbirds dart and flock to the old mans liver-spotted hands as he lifted
their feeders into place off hooks off posts supporting a tall fence built to
hide him away from the many eyes that didnt want to see him the fewer who did as he and the while among the noise of their buzzing
wings and chirps the old man talked to them imploring them comically to be sure to gobble at the sugarwater and
not prick his onion paper flesh
You little vampires
And you the worst he said to an odd copper-colored one
that hovered before his
face the two of them eye-to-eye
Yes you my beautiful soul
Quit
eyeballing me Take your feed like your
brothers and sisters Please try and be content
Vampires Brothers and Sisters Souls did
the old man really believe
or did he just talk that way
because he rarely had conversation with people and this talking kept his tongue
oiled his sanity shivering like silver water
over broken rocks in a weeded bottom creek he talked to the green plants and
trees in his yard to the squirrels scratching
the earth for nuts or foodstuff they thought they buried there then parked their frustrations and reared up
on their haunches their tails whipping agitated theyd emit a stream a screed of invectives that would smash and shame the
sensibilities of hiphop artists and rappers he talked to the occasional drifting toms and queens
that roamed unclaimed feral and to the green darting dragonflies and the still the deadly preying mantises
dont dare try and tell the old
man they were called praying mantises
For what hed snap
for heaven
Go
elsewhere and hawk that shit Only infidels welcome here Animals and insects or
things rooted in the earth
In what is real
the old man was an old man he had to appreciate his perspective he might never live to be as old as the old
man
Yes you my beautiful soul
the old man confided once in
him Ssshh Tell no one
Inside the birds rests the anxious souls of human beings who have
died They didnt get what maybe they should
have when they were alive through no
fault of their own in the wrong place at
the wrong time unknown children murdered
in unknown places ethnic cleansing the wrong sex have you ever heard of such crap
So I feed them sweet fresh water I hope I help them I tell them they are beautiful and I am
grateful for their presence
I enjoy their grace their iridescence and
who knows maybe in this withered old
body they can see the boy inside
occurred to me in the
morning, Day-between-Two-Ts, 12 8. 15
