ORNITHOLOGY | HAL Y. ZHANG

Birds know to chip at the
rotted wood; no sense making
work harder. I lift nail beds

not because they are easy,
but because of the disease.

My binoculars point inward,
fault of the construction, fog
and sunstrokes. Through the

mottled lens a pair of hollowed
vestigial wings, silent, nocuous.

---

Hal Y. Zhang is a word arranger and lapsed physicist who splits her time between the east coast of the United States and the Internet. She writes at halyzhang.com.

---

Cover Art by Shane Allison.