Olive Trees

I rode my bike over to campus today in order to sit and draw the line of olive trees along Russell Boulevard. I’ve been illustrating the borders of my journal and wanted to try series of trees across the top of a spread.

While I was drawing, I looked up and saw two raptors, a turkey vulture next to a much larger soaring bird with a white head and tail: a bald eagle! This is a very unusual bird to see in Davis — in the lower part of the county at all, in fact — and I called Numenius to see if he could catch a glimpse of it from the house (yes, we keep a yard list). He couldn’t, but I made sure to report this eagle on e-bird.

Just a Job

Each day the sun warms my feathers and I
Drop to the sky, spread, soar: to the next peak
For brunch. He sees me and with
Resigned terror screams. And on.
Per usual, no resistance from flesh.
Efficient, I tear straight to the
Bittersour pinkybrown chambers.
He screams, chains a-rattle, a-wracked.
I shit then fly off, wondering
If one day, oh just once, they’ll
Let me eat cake.