The Hawk Corner Room 11:34am
Today I Saw The Thinnest Line of Birds
Flying North
I Watched Them ‘Till They Vanished
And Lateral Clouds With Single Gulls
Took Over
I stand in sublimity
observing The November Sun
setting Its Light
against The Panorama of Spruce
out My Back Kitchen Door —
Subtle Clouds are rippled
like beach sand
& The Crows have yet
to finish My Offering
of old Shepherd’s Pie
The Hawk Kitchen 7:15pm
She was a beautiful bird —
I was lucky to be standing there
on The Deck
She landed near Me
in The Scraggly Apple
dove-like
with greyish wings
& peachy breast
Our Eyes Met
Her Friends Came
& took Her away
The West Desk Window 11:24am
I am luxuriating in The Full Viewing
of My Beautiful Bird of Paradise
I watch Him from My Vehicle
at the side of Hawk Point Road
My Neck craned to My Left
I gaze across Tidal Flats
at The Break in The Dunes
where Storm Waves wash in
small fry
for My Beautiful Long-legged, Long-necked Friend
Who wades so prominently
through One Grand Pool
to fish at Four Glorious Intervals
before I allow My Self
to finish driving home
to fix Lunch
The Hawk Deck 8:40am
The Morning Sky is Silver
as I heed the wealth
of My Surroundings
–
The Surf is shushing Me again
while My Teacup steeps
My Husband sleeps
I assess the coolness of The Wind
–
9:40am
The Surf is Louder Now
It Wakes Me Up
To The Silver Streaks & Pools
across The Ocean
My Husband is Up
& We’re Having Coffee
–
11:40am
A Pair of Jays have come
to The Straggly Apple by The Deck
Others Join Them
so I have My Flock of Jays
Who squawk out My Growing Up
as They All fly off:
“You are in The Childhood
of Your Maturity
Here On The Hawk”
To Sing The Song of The Hummingbird
I write to say I Saw One Today
buzzing in Our bedraggled Apple
& finding Nothing There
buzzed away beyond The House —
I may never see Its Greenness again
What would Its sight portend?
–
I drove with Eliza
& Her First Serious Boyfriend Tyler
to La Creamy Treat in Pubnico
on The Highway Home
Two Flying Objects hit the wind shield
Eliza, driving, pronounced “I killed
Two Hummingbirds with One Car –”
Tyler, from The Back Seat
resolutely announced “I saved
A Hummingbird caught in a Spider Web”
What wonder in a flock of tweeting
twittering Birds overhead —
I heard Them coming before I saw Them —
They began to break up above Me
as I eagerly watched to see Them form Letters
of The Alphabet —
Letters maybe to divine a message
but how could I expect Those Birds —
that Body of Bird Life —
to know My Language?
These Are The Neighbourhood Sounds
Which Drive Me Off My Deck:
Lawnmowers
Weed Eaters
Auto Body Grinders
Skill Saws
Chain Saws
Various Hammerings
Is That Enough?
–
These Are The Sounds That Keep Me:
The Waves
The Surf
The Fog Horns
The Peepers
The Wind in The Leafy Hedge
The Birds — Jays, Crows, Gulls, Willets,
Mourning Doves, Robins, Grackles, Starlings, Warblers, Chickadees
Isn’t That Enough?
–
What do The Gulls think
when They eat a food They’ve never had —
like Spanish Rice and Sausage —
What do The Crows think?
I spy a stalwart Robin
perched on My Neighbour’s Laundry Pole
–
I watch awhile
until She flies
down to the grass
& there goes My Poem
–
Oh My God — She’s Back!
–
I forgot The Fog–
The Fog is wafting past Her
The Hedge is rustling below Her–
–
Oh, There She Goes–
Joanna Gilman Hyde 