National Poetry Month: April 22, 2015

Prompt: Today is Earth Day, so I would like to challenge you to write a “pastoral” poem. Traditionally, pastoral poems involved various shepherdesses and shepherds talking about love and fields, but yours can really just be a poem that engages with nature. One great way of going about this is simply to take a look outside your window, or take a walk around a local park. What’s happening in the yard and the trees? What’s blooming and what’s taking flight?

Day 22:

Suburban Aviary

Bird poop on the back stoop means

the doves are back loving and laying,

so I look to find their twiggy nest

peeking from the eaves,

safe from the tabby cat

who uses our fence for her highway,

far from the raccoons who sleep

in the oak tree next door,

those raccoons who once visited us

while we sat outside eating sandwiches,

watching with their little flashlight eyes.

Now that I think about it

I haven’t heard much cooing

in the early morning lately.

Maybe this means the doves

are exhausted new parents.

All the birds are pretty quiet right now,

the juncos, sparrows and chickadees

must be building and nesting,

which makes the bluebird

I saw twice last week

an even more astonishing sight,

bright with rust collar and buff belly,

a true bluebird of happiness

because seeing him hop in the grass

that is exactly what I felt.