With Robins in the June Berry Bush

TUESDAY MORNING IN THE GARDEN

       --a poem for Jim Hanlen

So many robins in the June Berry

bush this morning. I tried surrounding them

with bars of aluminum foil

to keep them from the berries.

No white space remains

for sunlight but the birds

do their damnedest to eat

their way to freedom.

Will they be able to fly?

I've been grounded by the muse.

Not something I take lightly.

When the church rebuked me

they rebuked me twice

in one Sunday.

They used the word, rebuke.

I take umbrage, I wanted

to say. Thank God

I held my tongue.

I would never put that word

in one of my poems.

Jim Bodeen

2 June 2020