The perched hummingbird scratches with his fine toe

a spot just above his eye: turn of the head: Ah. Just so.

Then: off to crush his enemy, that other hummer,

he knocks the nuthatch off a branch for good measure.

In a swift turn of events, the fig beetle wins the battle 

over the mulch, burrows below the kangaroo paw,

which decides to continue blooming indefinitely, impossibly.

A young crow wags the power line like a jump rope—rough

landing—while two lemon-yellow butterflies joust over

said kangaroo paw (pink), presumably in dispute 

for the right to make more lemon-yellow butterflies.

The fox squirrels can’t decide who rules the coral tree.

Small chaos in the garden, in the margins of tragedies, 

of so many huge defeats. But struggle itself, a matter of scale.