the brain is a stupid sparrow,
hopping blindly from branch to sidewalk
in search of molded crumbs.
flighty, nervous, breakable,
the little yellow beak probes each crevice
for nuggets of filth,
pulls strands from fetid shores,
builds a house from brittle sticks.
the nests as light as the bones
(hollow and fragile),
bare protection from predatory weather
or the hawks who glide unnoticed
till all at once the synapse fires.
by the time the swooping, fearful shadow
has been realized, it's too late,
and the brain meanders into another metaphor.