Grackle

Dark hordes descend
iridescent armies alight
after the seed I threw
for more timid birds
has barely hit ground

before the storm rains in
before our picnic crumbs are cleared
before a bug can burrow below
before the carrion cools

yellow eyes on opportunity
his beak is a bully
her wing a shield
they scan the joint
roost in my eves

fearsome black ribbons
in the sky, show glints
of bronze, purple, indigo
when the sun washes over
just right, they are subtle
rainbows in flight

They can’t be all bad
can they?

I knew a grackle once
who knew his name,
traded pennies for
grubs and lived a long
life in a cage

I hear
his birth mother fed him
by dipping bread in
water, a communion
of tenderness we forget even

the brutest of birds
might deserve
after
all