Birds of a Feather

Female cardinal
dashes against the living room window
beats her wings at her reflection
shrill chirped warnings and clicking beak against the glass
flailing wildly to beat back the image she sees.

She returns each day that week to
repeat the hysterical, irrational dance.

Lawn chemicals my husband says.

How do I tell him?
The bird and her fight with
her mirror image are
all too familiar.

*

Lori Widmer is a freelance writer and poet based in Valley Forge, PA. Her poems have been published in TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Philadelphia Stories.