by Corbett Buchly

both of us shuffle through the loose leaves

hunting for a morsel to appease the hunger

both of us avoid exposure in our muted hues

blacks and grays secret us like weariness among the decay

but your eyes pinned back like slick barrettes

you, unlike this distracted mortal, see everything

sky and ground, past and predator

the worm slips easily into your hinged beak

while I, thirsty and empty, wonder

what critic slithers through the branches above

what slit pupils bear down upon my work in the soil

while you alight in stop motion upon the air

Corbett Buchly’s poems have appeared in more than 30 different journals, including, Rio Grande Review, Plainsongs, Black Manifold, North Dakota Quarterly, SLAB, and Barrow Street. He is an alumnus of Texas Christian University and the professional writing program at the University of Southern California. You can find him online at Buchly.com.