Finding a stumbling short cut from a brewery
along Highway 97

we are shuddered to a stop
by a juvenile red-tailed hawk on the fence

looking at us, no through us, huge
in our ignorance,
calm in its claws.

Further up the path, lay spewed
the contents of a life from the flapping mouth of a tent

and in the months ahead
the path will sprawl with tents and the sodden stories
of a civilisation unable to care for itself

and the young hawk
will leave.

Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has had many poems published in US and international journals. His first chapbook ‘The Residents’ was published by Finishing Line Press in summer 2024. His second chapbook ‘The Be-Al and the End-Al’ was published by Bottlecap Press in autumn 2024. He has published numerous micro chapbooks with the Origami Poems Project. Matthew is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. Visit his website at http://matthewfriday.weebly.com.