Encounter

This rooftop is
where birds gather

and withdraw their
shoulders from the sky.

They colonize the roof,
electrical wires, things

that face upwards more
than downwards. The half-dead

part of myself lifts
when I see them conversing

like grade school friends.
The hello between birds

and the rooftop is the hello
between the glint and their beaks

is the hello between my gaze
and their calls. Encounters

strung like beads,
like lashes on an eye.