Week 3: BIRDS

Blue Jay

This morning I woke to the call of the Jay, its voice piercing and insistent not coaxing or melodic like other birds. The Jay’s call is the same command over and over—“pay attention.” Though somehow it manages to say it in one syllable. When I’m walking outside the Jay’s call works like a meditation mantra. I’ll be thinking about anything, except where I am. My work, my breakfast, an old friend that I miss, and the Jay will yell out “pay attention.” And in looking for its flashing blue body, I’ll see the light filtering though the full summer foliage. I’ll see the way some small branches coil around others forming woody corkscrews. And the way the earth under the trees smells damp and old, productive and alive even here in central Jersey. Most of all I’ll notice how good it feels for my body and my mind to be in the same place.