a bird

lands on the end of twig

it bobs

wavers

flucuates

against the gray expanse

the boles     the knots       the nests

the single slender stroke of red

the sudden upward flight of idea

simultaneous, many

the mind is as wide as the universe – a single

bird passes through – behind it clouds change

places – dendrites form the basin.

dendrite

how many birds in that tree? quickly

count them. . . . . thirty. one there

at the end in silhouette at the end of

branching sits, and sits, and sits,

then shifts a little on that twig,

then to another a bit down

sits. and sits. . . and sits against

the morning or with it for a little

while, before their unison decides

somehow to fly away together

such sound play across the dome

a robin walks across a branch

side steps, sidewise,

hops, drops, to twig

the dendrite waves

in winter

the pathways in the back of the mind are open

unseen; those on the left are exposed in

daylight – branches of travel, activity

thoughts flock to the middle zone

of the hackberry tree – swoop in

dash – settle – converge – then disperse

in winter, the inward turn

the limbs           the pathways visible

exposed.

a man stands on a roof

at a slant

consults pocketwatch or reader or some sort of o’meter

and is gone

and also the ladder

in winter

the paths of the thoughtways are visible,

exposed, and sounds set to

season, pavement, small splash, constant on hem

roof, movement

on branch

still

thoughts fly limb to limb

russet belly –

charcoal –   tawny–

scarlett–     sweep

carrying messages

flapping

into knot

settled among the dendrites

plump •

dash –

arc ˘

flutter

hurry

not

(such)       activity