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Order this writing that appears in the one-of-a-kind anthology Excerpts from the Plague Years the Down in the Dirt Jan.-April 2021 issues collection book		get the 420 page Jan.-April 2021 Down in the Dirt 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

I Killed a Sparrow the Other Day

Kenneth Canatsey

I killed a sparrow the other day,
not knowing what I did;
and I had help – does that absolve me?

We were pruning the overgrown rubber tree
under the eaves, in shade in front.
‘Should I cut this one?’ asked the young man
we’d hired. We said yes.
He climbed higher, and a little bird – startled — flew out!
‘They like it here,’ I said. ‘It’s cool.’

Leaning further in: ‘I think there’s a nest,’
he said, and I climbed the ladder to look.
An organic tangle of yellow strips was nestled
into the fold of an enormous broad leaf —
not a nest, half a nest at best.
‘Cut it down,’ I decided.

The next day I found a tiny bird
huddled into a corner of our house
where stucco meets concrete under blazing sun —
still, and with a morbid hue.
Susan placed a plastic tumbler-full of fresh water
beside it: we hoped for the best.

But the day after, the orphan was lying motionless
on its side; and with remorse I understood.
Another day passed, and all was gone,
but for one small feather here, and
another there beyond the gate:
A crow’s meal, I guessed - which gave some
meaning to the death: death feeding life.

This is nature’s way. Our ideologies
are self-serving, and it is easier to be
carelessly unheeding than careful.
We beat our gods into our own image
to expiate our guilt.

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