I found a stick
of Wrigley’s gum stuck
in the pages of a plum
red book of poems.
Big Red. A cinnamon
red gum stick
stuck to a poem
about birds,
about the wings of birds,
about red birds.
Cardinal. Rosefinch.
A poem about red
summer tanager,
red summer wings,
bright belly bullfinch.
Why I put cinnamon
gum to mark some
birds, some bird wings,
I can’t recall, but some things
aren’t meant to be
remembered, even
if they still burn the tongue.
This poem was originally published under the pen name Gabriel Gadfly.
