but red-winged blackbirds trill what sounds
suspiciously like joy. Their migrating
cousins linger longer at my feeder
while honeybees & butterflies swarm
my wild flowers. Two rabbits roost
in the road like complacent mourning doves,
watchful only for coyote or hawk.
I have never heard such a plenitude of crickets,
seen so many fireflies, their come-hither signals
sparking up the night. In my little corner
of this vulnerable planet the human invasion
is paused and wildness is making a comeback.
This poem first appeared in Portage (2021).
—
CJ Muchhala’s work has been published in New Poetry from the Midwest and other anthologies, in print and on-line journals including Gyroscope Review, WordPeace and Thimble, displayed regionally in collaborative art/poetry exhibits and nominated for the Best of the Net and twice for the Pushcart Prize.
