Birding

Where lichen blooms green on the hickory.
Where an unblinking rabbit hunches

in his burrow. Where dried hydrangeas
and broom sedge rustle in the breeze.

I watched you carry an armload of oak
through the uphill brush and stack

the rounds in the wood cradle.
When the red hawk unfurled his cry

between bare branches, your eyes
lifted and your lips parted. I saw you

breathe in his longing. Watched it
unfold, flowering within your chest.

From Rooted by Thirst – A chapbook by Tina Mozelle Braziel.

About the Poet:
Tina Mozelle Braziel, a graduate of the University of Oregon MFA program in poetry, directs the Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her poetry has or will appear in The Cincinnati Review, Southern Humanities Review, Tampa Review, and other journals. Her chapbook, Rooted by Thirst, was published by Porkbelly Press. She and her…