the nest

Michael Prihoda

is where i start the thought
before it wings off, lost in darting shadow.

the finch atop the clothesline
might be the same as always

or else the 27th of this aviary whose residents
i aim to distinguish by differences in beak.

meaning: mouth; further translated: their speech /
as it ricochets, caught in nearby branch.

my thought almost returning before
a sudden flush of wing settles on a current.

different now. impossible to guess at
what i hoped to unearth as eyes track other flight.

Michael Prihoda lives in central Indiana. He is the founding editor of After the Pause, an experimental literary magazine. His work has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology; he is the author of nine poetry collections and the flash fiction collection The Hypochondriac Society (Weasel Press, forthcoming 2021).