Sneha Madhavan-Reese
Fall
Cool autumn winds beckon southward
after so many warm days. Millions of night-migrants—
warblers, sparrows, grosbeaks—take to the sky.
One morning, pre-dawn rain forces them
to lower their altitude, and the humans have left
the lights on again. Across the big city,
birds attracted to illuminated windows fly head-on
to their deaths. This could be any story, any city,
any early morning, but I am thinking now
of Chicago, on October 5, 2023. By daybreak,
the heavy rain had ended. People awoke
and readied themselves for any other Thursday.
Soft bodies of songbirds on the sidewalks.