The Abundance of Uninhabited Birdhouses
and cinnamon chai tea.

I'm entering into the housing market.
The buying and selling of bird houses that 
finds themselves neglected on grandmother mantels
and in mildew-laden cardboard boxes tucked under
Christmas decorations in the basement.
There are a great many people who
have painted a bird house without ever having
the intention of the home being inhabited
but yesterday morning I was informed by a pair
of swallow tails who sat with me for cinnamon chai 
tea that there was actually quite a shortage--
that since before they could remember 
homes for birds were rapidly diminishing--
The cardinals telegraphed explaining 
how they had sat at the entrance to many 
craft stores in the hopes of making
a down payment on any number of the ornate
and blank bird houses that lined the aisles
only to have the retailers waive their
hands at the couple furiously. They were
holding temporary residence in the hollowed
out knot of a birch tree--
The blue jays blamed the squirrels for the issue
and the blue bird couple with the
adopted chickadee for a son tried to calm 
the blue birds down before they rioted--
seeing as blue birds are the type for violence.
I didn't even need to take the bird houses outside--
I just opened my windows wide and let the
waiving of the blue curtains beckon in the birds
from up past the strip mall and down to the
park when the cardinals went for the best 
brunch of mulch worms. They negotiated my
payment in stolen rings and keys 
to garages  without addresses-- I figured I 
could make them into earrings. 
Only the blue jays complained that the 
home they were able to afford only had one
fake chimney instead of two--
and each morning the birds sat with me for 
cinnamon chai tea and bickered only
in whistles and chirps so that they
could hardly be heard over the tea pot.