Chickadees in the Park

Full of rage, she goes to the park to walk it off and formulate her rebuttal, but writes this instead:

Buzz of beating wings,
chitter, chatter, chick-a-dee-dee-dee
Nattering neighbours gossip on wooden porches
calling across the upper storeys of the trees

Past the leafy blinds,
here a flap; there a flutter — all in a flurry
black-kerchiefed matrons bob and weave.
Pump bodies under feathered aprons scurry.

Anticipation and outstretched arms —
Do not move. Do not breathe. Be calm, be calm.
Imprint of the dancer's quick steps, her ballerina breaths,
prick of her beak as she picks seed from your palm.

Inspired by 6 AM. Photo by Jaclyn Vernace.