I realize in this moment,
he will be defined by
what I teach him
and we have never had
a dead bird discussion
so I watch him and he
looks at me and I try
to not give him a clue
of what I want him to do
and he goes over to the bird
and studies it like it is his
first December and he kneels
and stares into its eyes
and he looks back at me again
and I give him nothing and he
looks to the bird, leaning close
and he kisses it once, softly,
on the forehead, near its eyes,
and he stands and walks away
and so I follow.
Ron Riekki’s books include And Here: 100 Years of Upper Peninsula Writing, 1917-2017, Here: Women Writing on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (2016 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal Great Lakes Best Regional Fiction), The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works (2014 Michigan Notable Book awarded by the Library of Michigan), and U.P.: a novel.