(A park in South Philadelphia)

I thought red-winged blackbirds were rare, seen one Afternoon down in Wilmington and once On Boathouse Row, never again. But here They were in the dozens, weaving among Prodigious twelve-foot-high cattails. Back in The lace-curtain neighborhood near the end of The city, the laptop zombies long for Coffee-shop windows. Down here at the lakes Five or six crows harass a red-tailed hawk Until he dives to evade them, his rusty Tail catching the sunlight for a second, Then flies back up and scatters their raucous Posse. A tangle of underbrush guards The edges of ponds expanded to lakes After rain. A young couple dance in a Gazebo, eccentric as a mockingbird In June swirling around startled runners, Guarding a nest from anything that moves. That’s one afternoon we spent in the park Watching nature rehearse and go forward, A bright swan at its center that landed Before we came and was there when we left.