nests

[Todd]

Some lovely changes here Anne. 

NESTS  (revision 1)

When your home backs up to an alley
and the flowering trees are bare, --very nice
you can’t help but notice dumpsters
are a regular hardware store for resident birds.--All of this is a much smoother opening. I think L2 especially adds a sense of completion to the last stanza, the end in the beginning feeling you get when writing satisfies.

Above the rot, their bodies rise and swoop,  
a flurry of life throughout the dead
cold of winter, before the last ice
finally melts onto the asphalt.  

Before green pokes through gray
cracks, beaks pluck loose burlap and twine,--When I read this out loud there's a bit of a stall between cracks and beaks that feels like it needs an "and" or some transitional word to smooth out the reading. When I read it in my head, I don't catch that stall. 
the warp and weft woven into evergreens--A good substitution
across from second story windows.

We warm and feather our nests too,
scavenge stores and farm-field antique markets
for Pima cotton bed sheets, down-filled couches, --like the substitutions here as well.
vintage mirrors.

Now that crabapple blossoms screen the alley--screen is a great word
view, we open windows and watch
tulips breaking ground to breathe in the spring air,--Good combining of the elements
and sing in concert with the birds' joyful arias.--Truly satisfying ending

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I really like where you've gone with this. Outside of the one area I pointed out, I don't have any large issues with what you've done.

Best,

Todd