This quivering tree is starting to change color in the parking lot near a fresh sushi

place by our high school and while my daughter went next door

to buy a few things from the store for Homecoming,

I sat in my car with the windows down with the sun filtering through,

while I admired the barely perceptible orange and red-tinged leaves,

and I thought about how

I always want to get an oak tree or a maple tree

in my front yard so in October I could see my house from

down the street

while I was driving up the street,

just like 18 years ago when I was exactly

36 weeks pregnant with my twins,

our front yard tree looked ablaze with red

on October 1st and they were born 3 days later in their own blazing arrival

(and it must have been quite a spectacular autumn that year in 2006),

but we no longer live there,

and it’s been years since I drove past our first home.

 

As my daughter shopped for several minutes,

I watched a little magpie bird

bounce among limbs —

more of a floating than flying —

as she chirp-chirped at a woman getting too close to her nest,

as the tree fluttered in the golden light,

and I knew by watching her carefully,

as soon as the sun shifted

and the wind changed direction,

that little magpie would fly.