White Pigeons on the Fourth of July

Bram Riddlebarger

The white farm pigeons have flown over
from across the river and landed

in the squat, 1970’s, nondescript office building
parking lot. It’s the Fourth of July

and no cars are parked there,
nor trash can be seen,

but the pigeons have a mission.
They are pecking for scraps

of information
tossed down like cigarette butts

from the local FBI office on the third floor.
Gleaning what they can, like small pebbles

for their crops. Something to make the whole affair
a bit easier to swallow.

Bram Riddlebarger is the author of Golden Rod (Cabal Books), Earplugs (Livingston Press), and Poem 3 A.M. (NihilismRevised). His forthcoming story collection Messages from the American Trashcan is due out in the summer of 2020 from Cabal Books. He lives in Athens, Ohio.
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