Birding by Cheryl Heineman

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Narrated by Cheryl Heineman

Ellie Harold’s painting, “Birds Fly In (Habitat)”
                        After a Ellie Harold’s painting, “Birds Fly In”

They seem raven-like, dark-winged,
moving toward a tangled nest                 
or like crows circling,
seeking their own kind
against a fog-ivory sky, the outline

interleaved with comings
            and           goings 
birds-eye cries
                      flybys
                                of brush-wings
      odors          from mud
                                              hush-hush
                   swigs 
             of      
                                 frenzied red

but now, as I take my seat, 
light-blue sprigs nuzzle 
rough-edged gaps
amid the white silence, 
               
and I see─
               
the birds are skylarks
                                             
making merry
in the painting      
and beyond the frame     

                                                where joy wanders   

BIO: Cheryl Heineman graduated in 2017 with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Diego State University. She also has a master’s degree in Jungian Psychology and has published three collections of poetry: Just Getting Started, something to hold onto, and It’s Easy to Kiss a Stranger on a Moving Train.