... and believe it or not, Poetry Paraders, February is National Wild Bird Feeding Month! Our first poems, from Today at the Blue Bird Café: A Branchful of Birds by Deborah Ruddell, celebrate two beautiful birds that appear at Chatham backyard feeders during winter months:
The Cardinal
Stoplights and cherries
and roses and berries,
a ruby, a wagon,
a flame from a dragon;
crimson-vermilion,
a sunset Brazilian,
the tip of his tail,
the cap on his head:
valentineSantaClaustotallyred.
Blue Jay Blues
Blue as a bruise
on a swollen knee,
ruling the world
from a maple tree.
Squawking out orders,
getting his way,
hogging the feeder,
and having his say.
Raising a fuss,
causing a flap,
a flying complainer
in need of a nap.
Our next poems are examples of Haiku, a Japanese form of poetry, often with subjects drawn from nature, consisting of just three short non-rhyming lines:
1st line: 5 syllables
2nd line: 7 syllables
3rd line: 5 syllables
Three poems, from The Cuckoo's Haiku and Other Birding Poems by Michael J. Rosen, use the Haiku form to paint poetry pictures of birds we find in New Jersey:
Cardinal
first feeders at dawn
paired like red quotation marks
last feeders at dusk
American Gold Finch
(state bird of New Jersey)
above gold jonquils
feeding finches stacked like coins
April's alchemy
Canada Goose
(Have you ever watched geese land on Loantaka's Kitchell Pond?)
the pond's still airstrip
far-off trumpets grow louder
one splash! two... hushed... glides...
Pull up a chair and keep an eye on the bird feeder, Poetry Paraders. There's a Haiku waiting outside the window for you!
squawking jays arrive--
a flurry of sharp blue wings
stirring powdered snow
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