If you’ve ever eaten on the patio of an Austin restaurant, you’ve probably kept a close eye on the black birds that swoop in on your tortilla chips: the grackles. That was the inspiration for Typewriter Rodeo’s David Fruchter as he wrote this week’s poem.
Grackle
eerie, raucous, clacking cry
shiver and look skyward
glistening black cluster of night
is watching you
as it struts and twitches
chases lesser birds away
preens and glories
and leaves a white slimy trail behind
just so you’ll know
it’s been there, and
it will be back
in black
