New Eden

This time of day the birds
and road noise do battle.
Chimes join the soundtrack
and life takes on the likes

of an old DeMille epic
with a garden from central
casting: Garbo and Gable
stroll near the trees, stop

for a cigarette. Bogey flirts
with Bacall at the Hibiscus.
Earl Flynn beats the bad guys
with a cast of thousands.

Two hummingbirds shoot past
like bullets, one chasing the other.
Sugar water for all yet they take
turns, torment each other.

A Mockingbird competes
with quarrelsome sparrows
and the wounded sound
of doves floats against heaven.

My partner hammers near my nook
as if to design new sets,
and a small lizard stares at me
with its ancient, yellow eye.

—Shirley Rickett