I fell in love
with wild birds
mother father
daughter daughter
with their view
from a giant nest
in a Jeffrey pine
by a mountain lake
my view of them
on live cam
when I couldn’t stand
to watch much else
their home décor
sticks they arrange
and rearrange
pine needles on the floor
their prowess
the trout the carp the bass
they catch bring back
in minutes I fell in love
with the gentleness
of sharp hooked beaks
tilting giving bits of fish
to just hatched chicks
with full size eaglets
hit by hail
nowhere to hide
when lightning
cracks the sky
inside in conditioned air
I discover their hidden tongues
their panting in the heat
how they bow
in downward dog to poop
how they grow into
their yellow taloned
clown feet
that pin down a coot
tail entrails snatched up
by competing beaks
not knowing
where they’ll go
if they’ll survive
how I’ll get by
when the season ends
the live cam a window
into what’s still there
if despair returns
I fell in love
with wild birds
—Jill Klein
Jill Klein (Instagram) hikes and ruminates in the heart of Silicon Valley, CA. Her poems have been published in Bellingham Review, LEON Literary Review, Portland Review, Radar Poetry, The Shore, The Southern Review, The Swannanoa Review, and others. She had an earlier life as a banker; her love of numbers continues. Jill holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.