Come back to this place,
the place you are standing as
iridescent grackles by the hundreds
unfold a raucous, chittery chorus –
not crow but somehow
in the key of crow –
that makes the canopy overhead
shimmer and vibrate

You know this place

You know this is a place
to stand and a call to hear

You know this place and this call
want – need – to be stood,
want – need – to be heard

So come back
to this place you are rooted

Listen as the grackles’ din
becomes leaves scuttling,
rainwater gurgling, gravel churning –
echoes of an Earth that
knows itself without apology

This poem appeared in The Fourth River, 2025 – https://www.thefourthriver.com/o16-poetry/2025/11/12/come-back