This is just to say
that I am in the back yard
there’s a red breasted robin feeding 5 feet away,
a woodpecker upside down at the same feeder and
a burning red cardinal sitting not far above.
Their songs call back and forth,
as far in the distance a hawk beats wings
towards the ocean
a black and yellow butterfly forming circles around
the base of the butterfly bush
I just chopped down low
(spring renewal can look like carnage)
the desiccated ornamental grass from last summer
lies bundled and chopped
under the long, chopped legs
of the butterfly bush
there’s a rabbit resting his head on my foot
there’s a World War II spotter plane
moaning through the sky above my head
the Merrimack hits the shores,
and I can hear the waves lapping
when the wind is right
this pilsner is lovely
and there is, for a moment, the purest clarity
