Did you happen to see the bird flopping around in the birdbath today?
The blue jay with wings of blue and a little spinning head?
Never seemed to want to leave the tiny tank of water to fly to other whereabouts.
And that was fine with me.
I listened carefully as this bird made its little splashes, the tiny crashes of water that swirled around his body and head.
And it made me think back to the first time my Dad gave me and my sister a bath as little-bird girls, his comments to my mom as he dried us off:
“They're like skinny little birds. Don't you feed them? Do they ever eat?”
And I feel now as I watch the splashing blue jay, the nature of bird-effects and the embrace of my youth
Coming back to me like a skinny kid bird.