Scottish Woodpigeon
You like to walk along the thick brick wall
in the neighbor’s garden. Each day, I look
for you, tottering, waddling to a crook-
ed limb in a pippin tree where you call
to a mate who does not come. So much small-
er are the other pigeons that stop by, I took
your photo, posted it, by hook and crook
(and Wiki drift) discovered your breed, all
I could want to know. I’m no birder,
but I like to think that in watching you
we take part in a grand tradition:
You a common enough dove, no further
than the wall, me common enough too,
both of us, engaged, in our quiet mission.
JC Reilly is a poet living in Marietta, Georgia. She serves as Co-Editor of the all-poetry journal, Atlanta Review. More: Twitter @Aishatonu + Instagram @jc.reilly