"My son says
the subway doors
are not quite
an E flat
when they close,"
she said.
The man
who tunes pianos
smiled knowingly.
"He will have to learn
to make accommodations",
he said,
"because the world
is not
in perfect pitch."
Then the crows came.
So bleak.
So scrawny.
Compared to what?
Smaller birds squawk
apocalyptically
at their presence.
But they are not hawks.
They perch
rather than swoop.
They natter and conspire
rather than act.
They are malevolent
not amoral.
Their arrogant caw
offends me
(though I would not know
an E flat
from the bleat
of that train whistle).
I must learn
to make accommodations.