Karina Borowicz

Cold April

I run out in my bathrobe
waving the flyswatter at the blue jay
that’s harassing the robin at her nest

she has worked too hard for this
I’ve watched the tight spiral of her nest
grow from a handful of yellow grass clippings

shreds of newspaper and free-hanging
lengths of hay long blond hairs floating in the breeze
clumps of gray fur flattened like render

it’s too high up for me to see
what’s inside but she’s there every cold April morning
and dusk giving it her body’s warmth

watching with a noiseless animal patience
as the light moves
the light never stops moving

Karina Borowicz

is the author of two poetry collections: Proof (Codhill Press, 2014) and The Bees Are Waiting (Marick Press, 2012), which won the Eric Hoffer Award for Poetry and was named a "must-read" by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. She lives in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts.