The Bird Songs Tonight by Jason Baldinger

The Bird Songs Tonight

It was after a reading, crowd thinning
cleveland poets back to cleveland 
pittsburgh poets back under their rocks
one straggler looks for a couch
didn't make the usual twenty four hour reservation
i offer him mine

Silsbe and i talked after-party
i offer after-party even though
this poet doesn't seem like the late night
howling type
still he comes along
maybe we are rowdier than usual
the beer tastes great tonight
everyone is holding
the pipe is never not packed
always making the rounds.
Dude isn't participating
he's turning green, barely sipping his beer
uptight, brother needs a Xanax bad
obvious if offered, he wouldn't partake

walking back to my place
late march and 3am and beautiful
streets light aquarium glow
there is one lonely bird
singing a song
no birds sing on penn ave
not at 3am, or ever
my slow atom head
has interpreted this as a mating song

I interview every tree home
looking for the bird
i want to have a long heart to heart
about loneliness
i want to remind the bird
no one is getting laid tonight

i can't find the bird
i stand in the parking lot
calling out 
the bird needs to know 
tomorrow will be better

i suppose i hadn't noticed
the poet had dropped behind me
every sentence i utter
he says over and over
panic mantra
"You're Insane!"

I unlock the door 
he races up the stairs
covers his head in a blanket
a knock kneed ghost
scared of his own shadow

​It's too late for admissions
I stand in the door
holding one word between my teeth
"Maybe"
​

Bio: Jason Baldinger has spent a life in odd jobs, if only poetry was the strangest of them he’d have far less to talk about. He’s traveled the country and written a few books, the latest of which are The Lower 48 (Six Gallery Press) and The Studs Terkel Blues (Night Ballet Press). A short litany of publishing credits include Blast Furnace, The Glassblock, Lilliput Review, Green Panda Press, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Beatnik Cowboy, In Between Hangovers, Your One Phone Call and Fuck Art, Let’s Dance. You can hear audio versions of some poems on Bandcamp, just type in his name.

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