A bluebird slips between electric wires
as we wake to radio static and the President
who says there was no choice but war
but there were no plans for war, a confabulation
confusing as the tongue of a captive raven, split
so he’ll talk to amuse the neighbor
who nursed the raven back to health
after it was hit by a car in the street
and now keeps it caged in a backyard
where it has learned the price of being saved.

pamela m uschuk