the red-winged blackbirds
Do not expect further forbearance
or birdy noblesse oblige
They are done done
with the nest-oblivious
who trudge their I me mine
through lowland marshes
careening into bulrush and phragmites
through too with the nest-curious
who catalog and pick at threads who ogle
their detritus basketweave
hung as if from spun wind
in swaying reeds
who inventory their mottled eggs
dying to see their
translucent young
peck out
into the bluegreen yonder
Photo by Steve Smith on Unsplash.
Jeff Schiff
In addition to That hum to go by (Mammoth books), Jeff Schiff is the author of Mixed Diction, Burro Heart, The Rats of Patzcuaro, The Homily of Infinitude, and Anywhere in this Country. Hundreds of his pieces have appeared in more than a hundred and thirty publications worldwide, including The Alembic, Bellingham Review, Cincinnati Review, Grand Street, Ohio Review, Poet & Critic, Tulane Review, Tampa Review, Louisville Review, Tendril, Pembroke Magazine, Carolina Review, Chicago Review, Hawaii Review, Southern Humanities Review, River City, Indiana Review, Willow Springs, and Southwest Review. He is currently serving as the interim dean of the school of graduate studies at Columbia College Chicago, where he has been on faculty since 1987.