Battering Robin Syndrome

He has split his beak on my view.
He has left his selfprint, almost art.
My window is torturing him.
My hubcaps incense him.

The robin wants my spring yard
to himself. Each reflection’s
a rival and must be fought full force.
Each reflection is harder than his skull.

He slides down, hobbles, tries again.
What business do I have holding mirrors
up to nature? It revolts. It suicides.
My love of flat, clear and shining

surfaces, flatter, clearer, shinier than lakes,
than anything in nature, is unnatural,
antinatural. And if nature held mirrors to me,
showed me someone I thought would steal

my truelove, or showed me how I’m doing,
what would I do, would I learn,
or beat my head against her skull,
or try to smash myself against the news?

Copyright © 2003 Tina Kelley All rights reserved
from And We The Creatures
Dream Horse Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission