‘On the make,’ my mother’d say
of springtime sojourns, the lone tom
between gobbles of rafters a strut,
the fan and drag as damp earth warms
to steam the green to flower skiffs of color,
to dress the oaks in tender iridescence
while finches softly fall aflitter, giddy
with the fun of it stirred within the air
we breathe, inhale into our flesh.
Like quail paired, couples nested
near the creek in the old days, empty
cars parked along this quiet road
like Do Not Disturb signs, lovers drawn
by April’s pounding drum to taste the wild
just beyond the sagging barbed wire.
drycrikjournal 