FILLING THE BIRDBATH
A hunk of concrete dropped off
the birdbath yesterday when
I readjusted the bowl again
I think the deer come to drink at dusk
their supple tongues
nudging the flat to an angle
and now I’m unsure if it’s
steady enough to last
another winter
may crumble it
and a new one won’t be this
pocked hand-me-down
ivy climbing its base
thirty years of soft feathers
fluttering in its mouth at twilight
……
This poem is from the chapbook The Sky Weeps with Us by Laurel S. Peterson (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-sky-weeps-with-us-by-laurel-s-peterson/
Laurel S. Peterson’s poetry has been published in many literary journals. She has published two poetry chapbooks, as well as two full-length poetry collections, Do You Expect Your Art to Answer? and Daughter of Sky (Futurecycle Press) and two mystery novels, Shadow Notes and The Fallen (Woodhall Press). She is a writing professor, serves on the Norwalk Public Library Board, and was Norwalk, Connecticut’s, Poet Laureate from April 2016 – April 2019.
The Paddock Review 