Shelter

 

Nervous leaves sway and tremble, hanging on to spindly whipping arms

that rise and fall like frightened octopus appendages,

pausing haphazard, aloft, seeking succor

 

A solitary bench rolls by like sullen laundry,

a tumbleweed of steely arms and legs

fashioned to a cranky back

 

White pickets are plucked like teeth

flung by a bulky, black-market dentist

selling roots

 

On the gnarled remains of a trees’ cracked branch,

a scarlet tanager clings, talons stretched wide

and beak tucked tight, as if asleep

 

His eyes move back and forth under feathered lashes,

wings twitching like doves