K.B. Carle
1. THE DISPATCHNature Sightings Outside My Window
These sightings always start the same.
A little bird chases a big bird
Away from her nest, from her children,
From her husband while he sleeps?
Do birds have husbands? Maybe.
Mother Gopher eats grass while
Squirrels fight over helicopter seeds and
Leaf stems and a stranger’s
Discarded string.
Why do gophers mate only to leave behind
Their children?
Why do squirrels hide their nuts
Then declare war upon
Each other?
A little bird chases a big bird.
Blue Jays and
Cardinals flirt with females
Who are duller in color.
Nature and its standards are
Oftentimes biased because females
Who nest and who feed and who
Lay and sit and raise
The young should be bright in their
Colors but, I guess it’s best for
The males to be the bright spots of
Their days
Except the Mourning Doves
Perched on my deck who have
Finished mating who
Are sitting awkwardly beside one another
The male glancing at the female the
Female edging away, spreading her wings
Taking flight and the male replaces
Where she once sat.
A fawn
still covered in spots
enters the backyard
alone
Sparrows fluff their feathers
And peck at wooden boards
Until squirrels reclaim their territory
Until Cardinals reclaim the seeds
That blue jays and rabbits and Mother Gopher reclaimed
Until there is nothing
For the insects to find.
Ladybugs and flies and wasps and
A single Praying Mantis
Stays until dark
When a skunk arrives
And shoots a warning shot
2. BUREAU INVENTORYLaptop
Binder of Scratch Paper / Early Draft Ideas
Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X
Various Writing Utensils Including Favorite Pen, Pencil, Highlighter and Eraser
Current Project In-Progress Binder
Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land
Mouse, Complete with Postal Inspector Mouse Pad
Planner
Conference / Workshop Journal
Tyler Barton’s Eternal Night at the Nature Museum
3. BIOGRAPHYK.B. Carle lives and writes outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her stories have appeared in HAD, Good River Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Matchbook, Bending Genres, Waxwing Magazine, and have been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, and the Pushcart Prize. She can be found online at http://kbcarle.com or on Twitter @kbcarle.