They are through with us

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, andSouthwest 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.