downy_woodpecker raze i'd never seen anything like her outside of a dream. she was all of six steps away from me. the smallest of her kind in this country. bleached and black and beautiful. she tapped out a languid song — marking her territory, or calling back someone she loved who had red in his hair and a more forceful way of making himself known. i crept closer to get a better look at her. she didn't fly away. she turned and stared straight into my soul. some silent bit of shared poetry passed between us. i waited to hear the rest of what she had to say, but she would only touch the tree she'd made her instrument, miming to a tape that had stopped playing. 220719 what's it to you? who go blather from