Last summer I only listened to sparrows—
their version of White Flag by Bishop Briggs.
They asked me to be baptized in the birdbath
to be an extra in an avian remake of Hitchcock’s The Birds.
I lost weight for the part so I could fly without strings
but felt ashamed of my solid bones.
It was so sunny, the background was washed out.
Oh, it was just movie lights on the set.
My one line was Today is the day labeled Today.
I doubt it was in the original script.
The sparrows basked in happy hour,
sipped wine, signed autographs for visiting finches.
My scene was done and I returned to the porch
to sit upon the wooden swing.
My ears filled with the movie score as the sparrows
worked out the imperfections and corrected notations.
I snoozed a bit within a disoriented gloom.
Such was the affect of the music for the climactic scene.
copyright © 2019 Kenneth P. Gurney
