Kingfisher
                        "they spoke in pins
                        they were silent in needles"
                                                - Miroslav Holub

Didn't see the kingfisher
heard him though
and thought about him

A cable connects one bank to the other
chains hang there by which means sea lions
are kept from eating every fish that is

Like any king the kingfisher
resembles a soft ball with a sword
but is not to be confused with either

Not a softball with a sword
a smallish shorebird capable of
leaving quite a gash in quiet

It is fashion to call bird sounds song
to say that salmon run
to name the clouds all kinds of names

It's just one cloud today
and so much cloud that who would know
we're balanced on the sun

And who would know that this canal
is balanced on a bird like that
perched out on a cable

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Copyright © 2013 J.W. Marshall All rights reserved
from Hubbub
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission