Travelers Welcome

Travelers Welcome

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Chimney Swifts Migrate

by Mary Delle LeBeau

the full moon rises on
the exaltation of birds in the dusk
of downtown LA
squatting on the parking lot roof
one urine smell stairwell from my car
I watch them begin their descent
spiraling in the air
falling ten birds at a time into a
fifteen story chimney
falling past cooper’s hawk and raven
come to pick
from the flock of thousands
they are flying between Scylla and Charybdis
like Odysseus’s sailors
a siren sounds
but their ears are stopped
they are creating the universe
from a crumpled galaxy
meeting death as simply as a star

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