Blue jay touches down,
shows off its barred tail feathers,
a benediction.
Even the squirrels
are sought-after company
in this altered world.
The treble of birds,
the rumble of lawn mowers,
my morning chorus.
A robin surveys
the yard's pickings: fallen twigs,
a prized paper scrap.
No spring is ever
the same as the one before,
but nests must be built.
The groundhog swaggers
across the grass like a thug.
Chastened, I retreat.
Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for thirty years. She is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and three-time winner of both the AnLab Readers' Award and the Rhysling Award. The first print edition of her epic-fantasy-told-in-poems, The Sign of the Dragon, was published in January 2025. She hides her online presence with a cryptically named website (marysoonlee.com) and an equally cryptic BlueSky account (@marysoonlee.bsky.social).
