Out the Door Medicine

First goldfinch of the season flushed 

from unmown grass 

along with other finches sparrows

and chipping chickadees 

southwest they mixed 

ones with steady quick beat 

and the gold with her push and pause 

push and pause 

as though she were giving birth to flight 

 

and the berries not black 

still mixed in with blossom 

green with brown mane 

like a nest holding tiny emerald eggs

guarded by red rooted shark-tooth thorn

the color the sweet juice of future fruit

or the small pricked

ruby drop from child's finger 

hungry for late summer's harvest 

whose mouth is more full than her basket

 

and the foxglove pods below petals 

like perfect pears balance 

on 5 pistachio shell shaped sepals 

each fruit long-stemmed

as though a straw had been

inserted to sip the hearty nectar

 

and large black and yellow bumbles 

with wings impossibly small for their tasks

disappear inside the speckled 

purple roomed flowers 

like drunks weaving into doorways 

enticed by lights and lust 

 

and the salal tiny little five faced luminent lantern blossoms 

hung each one with two leaf bows 

above sepals brown flecked 

as though a sea star 

was resting on milky coral 

 

and all of this

… bird and berry and bee and blossom

but a whisper at the end of a lullaby

followed by silence

and sleep.