Birding
by Carol Lantz
We expect them to be there
in all the right places,
just as they were last spring,
just as they’ve always been—
finches, warblers, wrens…
teasing us with wing bars
streaked breasts
eye rings.
But do we stop to ponder
how far the birds have flown,
the hazards they’ve encountered
to twitter in our roses
and flit above our lawns?
Probably we don’t.
Probably we point to silhouettes
to flashes of bright color
to round or forked tails,
then satisfied with “maybe
it’s a Phoebe”
we move on.
Poet bio
Carol Lantz has been an OPA member for many years. She lives beside the forest in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and is a keen observer of nature.