6:05 am,

timestamp

for when

I became Mother.

today, I celebrate

my son’s entrance

into the world,

one never again

to be the same,

not since his raucous

debut on this planet!

an empty house

bereft of seed

cardinals & finches

plunder the earth

for what they might find

beneath the feeder

swaying wildly

in the breeze

weary & depleted,

she pauses, ever so briefly,

in her deliberations

black smoke, billowing

heat of a thousand roaring fires

unrepentant abandon

petite, a head shorter than me

a young nurse takes my vitals—

her tiny, pale pink nails

honey locust leafy boughs,

tumultuous spring-green explosion—

the pleasant entirety

of my sunroom window view

northern wildfire plume

settles in —

my burning eyes,

my miserable, miserable nose