Siskin

And, the last straw; 
a glowing, bright-yellow, siskin
pounces and walks
the peanut feeders, in

luminous streaks,

showing off his abundant health.

His nuclear energy 

pokes my pinpoint pupils, pelts

my patience, and strips 

my nerves of resistance.

I bring a photo of this annoyance

to my daughter, her illness

pauses while she smiles

at the image of my torturer.

We will soon be fine,

and will tolerate the brightness.

(We got Covid. After all this time of avoiding it, we got it. Just having the virus was upsetting, but, being sick made a lot of very small things seem annoying. We had beautiful weather for our quarantine, and I spent as much time as I could sitting outside. That siskin really wore away at my last nerve, but my eldest enjoyed my story.)