THE SHRIKE
            Dan Tompsett
                c. December 2000
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    Bushtit bleeds from rusty briar
    of wire holding harvest-worn
    and frozen field that last
    summer's frenzied locusts fled.

    Black-capped scolding chickadees;
    dark-eyed furry squeakers;
    beware now of the bandit-masked
    and hook-beaked Butcher Bird.


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