Just Keep Working

The leaves are inside out.

A storm is coming. Who first

noticed this? And what is a storm?

A disturbed state in the atmosphere.

Like the dark cloud I sometimes carry

in my head. And why inside out? Is

there something in us that wants so

badly to be drawn out that it dreams

of the storm? There’s a small bird

with a yellow stripe across its face

found on the east coast of Australia.

They say the stripe is there because

of all the nectar it eats. It comes out

in the aftermath of storms before the

flowers fold back into themselves.

Isn’t this what we do for each other?

Eat sweetness from each other’s

wounds. I want to be a

yellow-faced honeyeater.