five birds rest on a utility wire
I did not build for them but
which they seem to benefit from
or from which they seem to benefit
or I understand where they’re
coming from or I wish I were
them, benefitting from fine lines
someone else has built during a
season of resilience or this is
the season of our resistance or
I must resist this propensity to
rest or it’s hard to resist when
fine lines are being built on which
I can rest if I choose though
it’s winter and there seems to be
so much to do and so little time
to rest or the birds of winter are
resting in resilient decadence or
I’m not resting when there’s so
little time left for resistance

This article appears in October 14 2019.

Amy Schmitz’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Quiddity, Louisiana Review and Poetry International. She has won awards from Poetry International and the Women’s National Book Association. Her first collection, Border Crossing, was published in 2018.