A Cluster of Birds Above Downtown

Every collected speck swayed wind
In sharp cut precision, together
In swift motion of east west & south, sound.
Driven as if invisible hands were swatting
Invisible air, like the weight of rolling fog
Driven into visible eyes over wide open parking lot,
On the crest of tenth floor panorama

Over parades, over Carnival it floats much the same as puffs of smoke,
Painted mouths on see-through faces drift oblivious
Until exhaling into pursed rings pointing outward, slowly heavenward
Overhead aware, over endless heads connected by necks to swaying bodies
Pressed together in vexed digression & sweaty kisses & regret;
Plump as delicate plumbs, along Decatur Street
Swells of traffic jams, overbooked hotels’ swollen taxicab stands
Vacantly patient in the thick heat as beat-buskers busk. Sweet
Natchez yawns broken Dixieland just around dusk

As every speck of breathing swaying silent electric
Feathery wing beating continues to keep.