Empty Nester

2020. Cast dichroic glass. 4”x 4”x2”.

Mom became obsessed with birds sometime after Jake and I left for college.

Each morning she takes a cup of coffee and whatever sweet thing she can find to watch the feeder- a stack of identification books on the side table. She coos at the good birds and raps on the glass to scare away the bad ones.

But now mom’s started collecting the eggs of House Sparrows. 

She calls it  “Sparrow birth control”.

Because she thinks they’re pretty, she keeps them in a little wooden bowl and displays them in the bathroom. Every once in while a rotten egg will explode and the room fills with the stench of a losing battle.