Blue Jay, pastel on handmade paper
A mass of blue jays scatter the trees
Hopping mad they scream out angry calls
From the branch to the roof to the bush to the sky
A flurry of feisty blue
They eye the ground intensely
Switching positions without pause
I stop and stare at the feathered spectacle
Counting the moving birds in vain
Five no six, they hop and caw and screech
Wary of their sharp eyes and open beaks
I creep forward and spot a foe
A white cat perches nimbly among the azalea
With a shake of the bush, the cat escapes
The jays begin a cautious lessening
Still emitting a jumbled unity of warning
Such fierce attention and determined vehemence
Encased in those feathers of blue
