Aviary

Milling about before the clinic
opened for a routine blood test,
I walked through a flurry of parakeets,
ducking as they swooped to feed
on blueberries & sunflower seeds,
& thought of when I snuck round
to unlock a neighbour’s shed door,
having heard exotic birdsongs
for weeks on end, only to be showered
in feathers & pierced by squawks,
& how I gawked like a collector
fascinated by nametags, descriptors
& dashes of cobalt & lime-green,
before turning to leave & tell no one.