on the routine
walk to campus
not for work today
for the sailing pavilion
to see student's boats and bask
in sun and nostalgia
for my own Spring robots
of a couple years back
on the sidewalk
there was a red speck a
dead bird a
tiny woodpecker in black and white
looking stiff immature and out of place
framed in a cement square
while stopped another walker passes by
by the curb there is a holey bag of
used envelopes so
with one pick up the bird
and place it by the sidewalk's tree
beside new lilac blooms
to rest
sunned and on the phone
walking home
hear of a death in the family
someone hardly remembered
but who I know
deeply cared for those
who deeply cared for me
off the phone thoughts are quiet
for a block and then
as minds are a grasping of threads
I feel glad to have stopped
for the woodpecker
and then a bit foolish