Rodney Jones
Why Am I Making This Noise
With this worm and this word
I am teaching
My starling to talk
worm worm worm
I am careful to enunciate
Each word
At the exact instant
I drop the worm right
In front of her
Jigging it for emphasis
To further demonstrate
My meaning
But when she pays
No mind think no
Of course I have
Upset her she is
A vegetarian so
I find a berry they
Are not hard to find
And again I work
With two props
One berry one word
berry berry berry
I spin it as I say it
But again zero
Well I say well I will
Up the register
Starlings are
Very smart have
You never heard them
Winging together
Over a cornfield
Sometimes they will
Form an hourglass
Pour through the
Neck of the funnel
And come out
In disparate squads
Parallelograms
Hexagons and
Once in a light rain
A parasol of starlings
But all she does
Is flutter to the top
Of a mulberry
And fluff up
Maybe I am not
Her human but
Listen close wait
She is saying ach
she says ach ach
And though I have
No langue d’oc
I say it back ach ach ach
And as I say it
I clack my sallow beak
Rodney Jones, Christianity & Literature, Volume 73, Number 1, March 2024.