Magpie

The nest was just this little brown stain

on the green of my manicured lawn

it had blown out of the cottonwood

that old son of a b***h that leans out

over the roof of the garage

upside down, it looked like any other nest

just a mass of sticks and weeds and leaves

I flipped it with my finger to get a glimpse

of the inside, where the birds had lived

and I was surprised by the silver

of last year’s Christmas tree tinsel

a blood red hair ribbon, stolen from a girl

potato chip bag ripped just right

part of a label from a vodka bottle

copper wire taken from God knows where

the nest was a tangled mass

of things that shined;

to me it just looked like a big mess

but to the bird,

it looked like love.

 

Reviews

[R.E. Ray]

This is among my favorite types of poems. I truly admire poets who can not only show a different perspective, but do it with humility and simplicity. I can see this scene (I've had similar experiences) and how you might've paused in the midst of something usual, like picking up a stray thing from the yard. Nature gifts us so many rich things and it's often a good change in perspective. Excellent write, JR.

[JR]

Thanks bud. This was one of those five minute specials, like we've talked about. Except really I'd been thinking of it all night, it just took five minutes or so when I woke up to write it down lol. True story too. I kept that nest in the garage of my place in Utah.

[R.E. Ray]

I figured it was a real story. I found a deer antler in the woods when walking last spring, and I wrote a similar poem (I can' t find it).

[JR]

Sometimes it's those little everyday things that just trigger something inside us. I used to shed hunt out in Utah, I should take it up again... tons of deer around my house.