A Cardinal Influences Peripheral Sight
Through insect screens
a patch of tangled
stems and leaves
works as graph paper;
or is this the way
it seems, in its duns
and browns? The snow-fray
an aura breaking up,
static scoriae . . .
We see community
and politics in the starlings'
feeding frenzy, hearted
deep by cardinal
working outwards,
its influence equally
peripheral through
the gridwork,
a blurring that bleeds
cross-species.
The failure of this
transcendent interlude
to contain colour
or snow glare
within the black reflector,
bares molten feathers,
blood vessels woven together.
Structure
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