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30 My sister bought her husband a “Show Chickens of theWorld” calendar from the dollar bin at Barnes & Noble. Now he calls her his Frizzle, after a bird whose baroque explosion of blond feathers somewhat resembles my sister’s morning hair. Crow sits on a curb, watches for a car to crack the nut it left there. He’s a clever devil, with shiny black snaps for eyes. We hear words in birdcalls.The American Goldfinch says, “Potato chip!” and the Ovenbird pleads, “Teacher!Teacher!” and the Ash-Throated Flycatcher croons, “Tea for two.”The Eastern Meadowlark bids, “See you! See you!”Which just goes to show how words can take an expression of the soul and make it common. I try to write about a cartoon Roadrunner. But an anvil falls on the page and leaves a giant and precisely anvil-shaped hole where the words were supposed to go. birds ...

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