Birdwatching at Mystic Hot Springs by Kendra Nuttall
I have never come close to being
a mother, but I feel maternal
watching the mama bird fly
in and out of the nest, dropping crickets
and berries as her babies cry
and crowd together for dinner.
I look away as they edge closer to the cliff,
nothing but waterlogged rocks below.
I want to catch and comfort them
after the inevitable fall,
but there’s a cliff next to me too.
Kendra Nuttall is a copywriter by day and poet by night. Her work has appeared in Spectrum, Capsule Stories, and Chiron Review, among others. She lives in Utah with her husband and poodle. Her debut book, A Statistical Study of Randomness, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Find her online at kendranuttall.com.