Flight Plan

Not sure which bird lifted first
before the whole flock
flew from the roadside
as the pickup passed by.

Two of them bounced
off the hurtling grill, one
flopping broken in the road
as the other shot skyward

fluttering like a smutty rag.
A third bird, caught
in the teeth of the grill,
couldn't've thought much

of the flight plan. 
The rest of the flock veered up,
flapping toward clouds
above the Tom Thumb.