Dovecote

All these little dove holes,
in a hive,
a cote,
negative space,
tombs revealed,
where did dove
knot out the comb of ceremony.
I don't know if we ever ate dove
and I'm happy not to
autodidact, since
if you didn't know something,
you just didn't know, right, and
I know about puffins and eating them,
but doves and the weekly battle even,
the need to pass them on,
tag them with affirmations
and desire,
watch them puff out and away,
helium balloons and all.
The dovecote was my school sign,
it said more about what it is
to house,
than to actually go up there,
comb through plumage left behind,
find the furtive exchange of wrappers,
gum,
broken bottles,
gem stones that glisten once a day,
for the doves that remained.