L.A. River

I like how the mallard ducklings

goofy and weak

waddle up the cement incline

then slide into this runoff

of lawn sprinklers and car washes

and how the great blue heron

seems to be teleported here

from the Jurassic

to look for extinct species of fish

but mostly I like the way

the little birds

fly in and out of the barbed wire

with only a smear of water

to keep them singing.

Copyright Credit: Poem copyright© 2016 by Jack Cooper, “L.A. River,” from Rattle, (No. 52, Summer 2016). Poem reprinted by permission of Jack Cooper and the publisher.