Kinds of Honey

I was lying on my back on the bench

of the picnic table, for fifteen minutes

of lunch and blessed shade between work.

.

Above me, in the branches of the bur oak,

a little black-and-white bird also positioned

himself upside down. He had quite the grip

.

with those little feet as he skittered along

the bottom of one limb. I thought at first

he was some wild sort of squirrel-creature

.

but then up along the side he went, his head

well-shaped, movements quick and attentive,

wings folded behind his back. I don’t know why,

.

but it made me laugh, this bird in the tree moving

along without flight, with some kind of purposeful

hurry, unperturbed as I peered into his aerial home.