Painting by Regina Kielec
PILEATED WOODPECKERS
I heard their exciting music
As both pecked on the bark
Of my backyard dead avocado.
What were you doing, woodpeckers,
In my rundown neighborhood
Where nothing is natural.
Did a racial memory bring you
To what is now a desolate place?
Are the forests all gone,
you have no home?
I watched the red flicker
From the darkness of their feathers.
I feel a joy never felt here before.
Soon, the woodpeckers flew away,
never to return.
I'm glad, no one should be
sentenced to live here.
But thank you, woodpeckers,
for the moment of happiness
Duane Locke
Posted over on Fullosia Press
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