The Case for Juncos

by David Huddle

Junco could fit neatly in your jacket
pocket though it wouldn’t like that job nor
would you. They’re modest creatures you don’t
notice until you see a pair of them--to court
or play or fight--rise in acrobatic
swerves, darts, swoops, and dives of such synchronized
maneuvers their white tail feathers flash like
those of trained circus birds. Then they’re finished—
these improvised antics last only seconds
before they go back to picking seeds off
grass or dirt. They’re hardly a presence
at all. Gray on gray, silent, even the hawk
ignores them. They’re clerks and custodians.
Juncos are Democrats. Not Republicans.

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