Tipton Poetry Journal

Bird’s Eye Maple Patrick Erickson they call it not for nothing The bird’s eye detects the tiniest nit when there are nitpickers The tiniest flaw and the bird’s eye maple is hidden beneath the finest velvets and the finest satins and the finest silks when the thinnest veneer separates the bird’s eye maple from the finest mahogany and the bird’s eye maple is hidden while the nitpickers are in full view.

Patrick Erickson is a retired parish pastor put out to pasture himself, a former shepherd of sheep, a small flock with no sheep dog and no hang-dog expression. Or he is the sheep dog, a small dog, with the hang-dog expression. Secretariat is his mentor, though he has never been an achiever and has never gained on the competition. He resonates to a friend's definition of change; though a bit dated with the advent of wi fi, it has the ring of truth to it: change coming at us a lot faster because you can punch a whole lot more, a whole lot faster down digital broadband "glass" fiber than an old copper co-axial landline cable. Of late, Patrick’s work has appeared in Poetry Pacific, Red Fez, SubtleTea, The Oddville Press and Literary Juice. He lives in Garland, Texas.

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