ADOPTION

By: Julie Benesh

The cardinals, juncos, and robins ignore my sky-

blue birdbath, ceramic shimmering in the sun-

shine, as well as the copper bowl anchored

with stones and nestled on a shady stump. Because bears, 

I cannot lure them with beds of seeds or crumbs.

I witness their unself-conscious cloacal kisses;

hear their elaborate prayers, but they reject

my neighborly gesture. When I first moved here,

I assumed my yard, the soil so full of rocks and tree roots, 

unlike the loamy humus of my native Midwest, would grow nothing

but ubiquitous maple saplings, or towers of pokeweed, hovering

like Gothic gargoyles and said to be beloved by my elusive avians;

but the rudbeckias bloom and bloom;

beam like piles of one-eyed puppies, vying

for attention, which the bees−

methodical, industrious, and not without enthusiasm−deliver.

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Julie Benesh is author of the poetry collection INITIAL CONDITIONS and the chapbook ABOUT TIME. She has been published in Tin House, Rust & Moth, Another Chicago Magazine, Florida Review, and other places, earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College, and received an Illinois Arts Council Grant. She works as a professor and management consultant and holds a PhD in human and organizational systems. She recently moved from Chicago to Western North Carolina.