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Friday Night Poetry: “If He Proposes, Say Yes”

Jessica de Koninck
December 22, 2017

Consider the sparrows

picking at insects.

Their small high-pitched chirps

dot the landscape with worry.

Consider the sparrows

hidden in hedges,

tiny dull warblers

of suburban afternoons.

Watch them swallow seeds,

sip from shallow puddles.

How easily they scare

when a sleek cat wanders by,

climbs into a tree,

searches for dinner,

stretches out a paw

agitating the branches.

Consider the sparrows

perched on phone wires.

Even through winter

they nest in front yards.

This poe is reprinted from Cutting Room (2016, Terrapin Books).

Jessica de Koninck is author of Cutting Room.