Friday, May 15, 2015

Late Afternoon, with Mallard

Today, at midday, Mother Wood Duck brought seven or eight very young ducklings 
up to feast on the seed the squirrel shakes out of the feeder to pick out the sunflower seeds.
They probably have already been swimming in this pictured stream.
But she saw me (with my camera) through the window and took them right away.
At this point, they can walk and swim, but cannot fly, so as she marched them away;
they followed her in a straight line. It was the first time I have seen wood duck ducklings!


RAIN SONG

The rain a river upended

The flowers plain pink or
cream striped with mauve
laundry left on the line

the outdoor cafe
deserted
except for the tables like lost cattle

a bird flies out of the corner of the eye
making the world
give a little shiver
making everything jump
one inch irretrievably
to the left

and in the green igloos of summer leaves
all the birds
are keeping mum

Roo Borson

A Sad Device, Quadrant Editions, Ontario, 1981, page 13.

I am still in love with Roo Borson! To think that Canada is such a short distance away, and I only found out about this poet last year!  In such a short poem, she makes perfect use of laundry, igloos and cattle as comparisons. And she just lays out the lines the way they need to be!

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