How present are birds? 
– are we all, are we all?

To pitch a song into the air does
not make a creature present, even 
if it calls to another living thing, 
mindful of predator and prey. 

The spiced crisp ice of wild 
hot fear traps us all in 
its glittery aquamarine
/too often/
taking us to another dimension
before work,
after work,
and all day into the evening. 

The chorus of life is 
a dense old protein, and 
fearful awareness of it the 
doorstop to living. 

Yet to be a mindful person is to
be, most of all, resilient – 
willing to wade into the 
bleary muenster of all voices
and sounds.

To be mindful is to sit present 
on the beach not thinking – 
adjacent to the water, 
yet still swirled up in it.