Bowl

Hummingbirds
winter on our deck
in Los Angeles,
drinking from
plastic flowers.

A sparrow appears,
chitters and chatters,
chases them away before
awkwardly trying to
hover and feed at
the dark hole
nestled amid the
artificial petals.

My wife places a
bowl of water
on the deck
for the sparrow to
drink and a
hummingbird
defecates in it.