Icterus parisorum
Scott's oriole
Amaris Feland Ketcham
Before daybreak he sings his story.
Promises adrift in the wind.
A melody to build his boundary;
he’s tying the yucca’s loose ends.
Promises adrift in the wind.
Whistles echo in the foothills.
He’s tying the yucca’s loose ends
and weaving a nest to fight the chill.
Echoes whistle through the foothills.
Lemon-yellow and black,
weaving a nest to fight the chill
of desert night falling against his back.
Lemon-yellow and black
the goodhearted errors of the past
fall like desert night upon his back.
The heat in his heart cannot broadcast
the heartshaken promises of the past.
Before daybreak he sings his story
but the heat in his heart cannot broadcast
a melody built of boundaries.
~~~~~
Amaris Feland Ketcham occupies her time with open space, white space, CMYK, flash nonfiction, long trails, f-stops, line breaks, and several Adobe programs running simultaneously. Her work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Kenyon Review, and Prairie Schooner. Her book of poems about the Sandia Mountains is available from Finishing Line Press.