I remembered the Blue Jays in the spring.
I shifted the weight of the pack to the right.
each afternoon I would find some new thing
from the noise, today the birds found a snake.
They followed it through the bushes of the neighbors yard
mocking birds and starlings had joined by then.
The racer was caught in the fence.
Each bird diving until he struck out randomly
grabbing the fence wire with his broken back teeth.
twisting from the broken bones and vertebrae,
I remember I watched him die like that.
with my pack set right I went up the hill.