Bricks outlast sticks

that outlast straw

but only she can

build a castle

in the time it takes

to string birdseed

on a bow shaft.

I’d feather her nest

–if it didn’t feel

like I was stealing it

just to sell it back

to her: that plastic

Easter-basket grass

they sell in CVS

where the farm stand

stood in the leach

field at the food

court at the mall.

I check to see if she

responds to my

last text before

I send her the next.

Nobody I know

can read the oracle

and memorize

the almanac while

riding a bicycle

in traffic –not like

the elm queen

mother of the quay.