I heard a woodpecker pecking
I heard a chorus of birds singing for each other
They didn’t know I was there, but
I heard every song
I heard its snorts first
I looked up and saw
A deer across the riverbed
Moving its jaw to the rhythm of the tall grass
I heard a splash, soft
Like a warm embrace
I saw a catfish disappear
Into the invisible sliver between sky and water
It didn’t know I was there, but
I saw the cypress rise from the
Water like
Alabaster monuments from
Obsidian, obscured by its own reflection
The mesquite danced in the wind to
The melody of
Three cardinals coming back home
