The Bowerbirds

It is too hot for novels but not too hot to muse over the syntax of this lovely sonnet.

Bowerbirds decorate their homes as part of their mating ritual, by the way. I think this is what AB told me when we first found this poem.

The Bowerbirds
by Dana Goodyear

As if we were leaving
the small forest tower that we built,
with a moss carpet and mosquito chandeliers,
and laughing at it.
I can’t believe you used that word—
in an argument, no less.
But we would never break this way,
loose, affectionate, wry.
You straighten,
add an ornament.
This is somehow part of our staying.
If you left, a black cape would flap
like a crow winging,
and I would make a hundred harried calls.