Avian Causerie

Blackbirds gather
from marshy summer
homes and fly
to town, collecting
at the Meadowdale
Coffee Shop.
Perched at tree-top
tables, they speak
family secrets
of swallowtail relations
and how the buzzard
wars have gotten out
of hand. They gripe
about the livestock
market and the hot,
dry summer's
shriveled worms.
They shudder
at the bitter winter
yet to come. Then
gossip-weary, they wrap
their sooty cloaks
about them
and head south.