Stooti's Poem of the Day

1 Three sparrows in the schoolyard while waiting for my daughter to finish up her play with friends whose purity she will come to question in a few weeks and in that way I am reminded of the president when he speaks of enemies to the other side of the mirror but only in that way the three sparrows ruffled up the dirt as their wings and heads spun motorbike doughnuts after one of them had come back with a massive potato chip for the other two to fight over perhaps he was the provider or wasn’t hungry but simply couldn’t let a good bit of food go to waste Then a crow came and the winner sparrow went zooming into the orange orchard knowing fully well it would be impossible to alight and reappeared with a chip the size of his beak and a flurry of birds descended on the scene (I even saw a Fletcher) but kept my eyes on that little sparrow and am happy to report he kept what his mouth held though it occurs to me he was also mean and the one who seemed a provider might have been yoked in that way my wife during delivery was rung up like a bar code whenever the nurse knocked or the doctor was called 2 In the room there were women Counting up to ten dressed in blue The doctor was also Pregnant in her final week The neonate came out broke The sound barrier and was whisked Away from the mother the father Had cut the cord having held Scissors before he couldn’t turn down The doctor’s offer as if he would Have denied someone an entry Or exit visa Then the women were gone And neighbors and friends had to go To work and the mother was alone With breast or formula milk One nurse suggested the latter Was the better soporific 3 An infant smile A gas tickle The price of milk It goes up in war My son is here to teach me My temperament is genetic His smile is blind It dreams a spandrel Turns opiate in the eyes He grunts impatient wants Gas out as soon as It forms in peace He coos It’s what doves do Though excitable Observant of moving lips Attempts utterance Throws up happy spit And hunger’s renewed