Clark’s nutcracker Nucífraga columbiána After the breeding season we often find odd mates like this Clark’s nutcracker and a Sterling jay sharing a morsel of bagels in the parking lot of Anthony Lakes they don’t fight, they simply share while a few children, without masks, ride the see-saw built to make bikers out of them their father watches with arms ready to catch across from the birds another family unloads their toys and the birds lift and flutter away simultaneous watching intently with identical expressions they must be famished—with their young gone time to fatten for the winter that is yet to come —a child drops a bag of chips, the birds dive together to catch the booty— again, they stay close it’s the end of a summer hotter than usual with fire smoke and exhaustion from isolation—but today the cerulean sky has brought them out, the sun shines without a curtain scavenging together makes me wonder if Darwin had it wrong, here I see a simple joy —the Clark’s beak tenderly picks at a chip on the Steller’s and both crackle in a chaunt not far from laughter
Amelia Díaz Ettinger is a ‘Mexi-Rican,’ born in México but raised in Puerto Rico. As a BIPOC poet and writer, she has two full-length poetry books published; Learning to Love a Western Sky by Airlie Press, and a bilingual poetry book, Speaking at a Time /Hablando a la Vez by Redbat Press, and a poetry chapbook, Fossils in a Red Flag by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies.
Amethyst Review 