Hawk Above Main Street

Published in Origins (October 2018)

Up on the twentieth floor,
needing to stir,
to flex and stretch,
I rise and pace along the glass wall,

and see the red-tailed hawk
that has suddenly soared into view,
catching an updraft with the barest tilt of his wings,
feathers splayed and radiant.

He moves in slow circles
above the pigeons, the people,
light, shadow, light, shadow,
his tail one moment fiery red,
the next burnt umber.

To see this world as he must.
All canyons and cliffs,
earth and sky,
friend and foe,
and no confusion over which is which.