Birds in their Places

Small bowls
worked into the rock face

ember and char littered,
stacked shells – newly uncoupled
from a home muscle.

Calcite habits unheld
belly-up, a brickwork
of twinned crystal – flat nacreous
death snaps of shine.

An underside denying light
incidents of shifting
color. We see only

interference. So unfit for
this situation the shell
solely reflects sightlines.
Your point of view back to you

who spilled this

The white birds
turning each piece
over each bird stiff
legged, uneasy
near the heat.

by John Liles