Cliff Swallow
        —PLATE XLI., Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio illustration by Virginia Jones, (1886)

Loosed from the barn wall,
                the nest will not keep—
it films worktop and fingertips
                with grime, eager to return

to dust. Virginia defines
                each scallop of dried mud,
constructing, pellet by pellet,
                the gourd-shaped whole.

Her work is nothing
                next to the thousand mouthfuls of mud
ferried and plastered. To guard
                the entrance, she includes a bird,

white forehead and brick throat
                brightening the tunnel.
Note the black beak,
                a pointed arrow, and the body,

a stocky bullet—ready,
                should you try to glimpse
the clutch of dappled eggs,
                to lunge at your thieving heart.

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Copyright © 2021 Carrie Green All rights reserved
from Studies of Familiar Birds
Able Muse Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission