Birds Of A Feather Poem by Frank Avon

There are front lawn birds
and back deck birds:
scattering more seeds
than they eat,
to feed the squirrels
or spring up as sunflowers
or weeds among my zinnias.

A flock of sparrows,
dull-colored (gray and brown)
colonizing our shrubs,
traveling in fours or fives,
cleaning their beaks
on the limbs where they perch;

a pair of cardinals,
he a brilliant red,
the spark of bright
on the dullest day,
she as noble as he
though grayish,
not as noticeable;

one little house wren,
perky and quick,
determined to build her nest
inside our garage;

and chickadees,
and nuthatches,
and the tufted titmouse,
silver and regal
as his cardinal cousin;

an occasional
red-headed woodpecker,
and feisty blue jays;

and at the peak of summer
a pair of finches,
golden and gray,

for the lawn -
like life -
is that way.