Sparrow, Cricket, Mycelium and Me

by Nicky Rainey

I keep a sparrow in my tube sock

like a snake in a pillowcase.

It says: “the waystation along

Highway I-70 will not protect you.”

The sparrow keeps a legless cricket

in an acorn half. It actually had

some of two legs. Cricket said: “you’ve now

lost your sister’s child in the mall...again.”

The Cricket keeps a little mycelium under

a broken brick. The mycelium is polyphonic,

each tendril moaning like differently tuned

teapot. It says: “I just want to be free.”