Category: Birds

  • Beach trip, May 2025

    Eons ago, we traded wings for speech and legs to run and now we spend eternity regretting our choice. ____ On our last trip to the beach pelicans flew single file off shore. Seagulls hung in the air waiting for food to drop; shiny grackles brazenly stole food from wagon stashes of tourists. An attractive…

  • Jasmine’s dogs

    Bobber lies on the couch next to me Hazel at my feet. Soon I’ll attach leashes to collars take them outside. Let them walk, defecate in the yard scent the trunk of trees. We mourn the empty loneliness together awaiting her return. I pet them on the head, thankful they don’t cry or talk. I…

  • haiku of an autumn pond

    mallards cruise near shore in the reeds two herons court frogs and turtles sleep 12-1-22

  • Cassie’s hat

    sunrise, thirty degrees, take your blood pressure meds and crawl back in bed 9 am, put on Cassie’s hat, grab coffee in a blue cup and walk to the park watch mallards rush to safety on the other side of the pond as you approach return from the park, your father’s voice demands to know…

  • Postmodern psalm of benediction

    Bless the garden cat that consorts with painted plaster gnomes, stands at the gate and rubs against your leg for cuddles when you are alone Bless the backyard possum that eats ticks and rodents, plays dead when he is scared, rises from the dead and hides when you look away Bless the dog walkers who…

  • Psalm of praise

    In the beginning There was the word and it was poetry …..ET call home, Be wakeful and watch the sky *(Say) This morning is holy **(Say) This morning is holy Stars have fallen from the heavens, All the bell towers have gone silent, The thief in the night has come and gone and we are…

  • Wednesday morning

    City trucks out early gathering piles of leaves trees discarded After hiding from rain for two days tree dancers scurry and swirl in search of calories Mallards have left the pond their honeymoon over Flowering bush in the park refuses to give up on beauty A day or two in the sun and dry clatter…

  • Caught between

    heron stalks shallow water in the middle mallards glide in circles I am caught between blaring church music and a lone basketball player droning songs only he can hear on headphones 12-11-22

  • Thin air

    On the Saturday morning before winter solstice, you walk along the shore watching squirrels chase each others tail up and down trunks of trees leaping from tree to tree, playing catch me if you can. _____ One misjudges its abilities and the distance between two trees, grasps at nothing, belly flops in chill water, swims…

  • winter haiku

    red cardinal flits among last summer’s brown leaves colors of winter 12-30-22