when i was a wee lass
i wanted a bird
not sure why
but i imagine i liked the idea of a bird liking me
perhaps it was a snow white complex
or the bird on Barretta

anyway, there were tons of birds in arkansas
and my father said to me,
the way to catch a bird
is to put salt on its tail

so off i'd go
with a box of morton's salt
throwing it at birds
trying to get the salt on their tails
so i could catch one

i wasn't until i was thirtysomething
that i discovered this was an old wives tale..
if you can sneak up behind a bird
and sprinkle salt on it's tail
you can capture it

and here i thought i just had bad aim
throwing salt.
at birds.
and their tails.