A sand dove nested
in a pomegranate tree
her high-pitched coos
instructing her brood.
A cardinal swooping
down snatches
an infernal wasp
while policing the skies.
A band of sparrows
chirping a folk tune
consoling the late
autumn air.
Philip C. Kolin is the Distinguished Prof. of English Emeritus and Editor Emeritus of the Southern Quarterly at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has published over 40 books on Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and African American playwrights and including fifteen collections of poetry, the most recent being Reaching Forever (Poiema Series, Cascade Books, 2019), Delta Tears (Main Street Rag, 2020), and Mapping Black Trauma: Resistance Poems about Black History (Third World Press, 2023).