We're searching
for the single
yellow-headed
blackbird
we've heard
commingles

with thousands
of starlings
and brown-headed
cowbirds,

when the many-
headed body
arises
and undulates,

a sudden congress
of wings
in a maneuvering
wave that veers

and wheels, a fleet
and schooling swarm
in synchronous alarm,
a bloom radiating

in ribbons, in sheets,
in waterfall,
a murmuration
of birds

that turns
liquid in air,
that whooshes
like waves

on the shore,
or the breath
of a great
seething prayer.