There are dark tiny birds
that live in my head
they coo or they caw
they sing or they screech
they have dark tiny claws
on their dark tiny feet
and they poke through my temples
with dark tiny beaks
soar like the swallows
up in the rafters
peck through the leaves
they hunt and they chatter
and make tiny nests
from my dark tiny dreams
but I know I’m alive
by their dark tiny screams
and I know when it’s silent
one day in my head
tiny white worms
will live there instead.