Maiko Kikuchi, Back to the Nest, 2019 (Artist Website)
Paper and acrylic paint on board
It’s a summer of mosquitos, newly hatched,
settling on the hibiscus, the spider plants,
fresh sheets wicking in the sun.
Where were all the birds coming from?
They hopped, feasting branch to branch,
shrubs twitching with seismic avalanche.
Even the woodpecker, who for days
I heard but never saw, appeared in my yard,
tall and sleek, shrieking mama. I should be
writing this down, watermelon rinds
strewn in a dazzle of flies, the lawn
skyward erupting, how bulbuls flit
inside dense bougainvillea, crisscrossing
like a basket, a cage, the ribs of a whale.