A hard freeze has stripped
color to bone
scoured fields bare
and in the dull flattened grass
five Stellar jay feathers
deep cobalt rimmed with black—
blue enough for my mourning.
Nearby
a bird-size mound
of greyish pink entrails
to study for portents
like a diviner before science.
Slipping from field
into brown-shadowed forest
I find scattered shards of deer—
a crimson arc of ribs
and fleshy blood blossoms
like a peony splayed
in a mud mandala.
The sharp wind
tosses the branches.
Some spin off
others hang on.