THE LAST BIRD WORDS


The roll was taken from the porch,
    in whispers,
of those who came to our backyard vespers.

Neighborhood redbirds
and red breasts arrived
with the slipping evening light
to claim their first-come, first-served
roosting rights.

An evening duel ensued
o’er who would have
the last bird words.

The redbirds, last at the feeder,
    chirped it shut for the night,
but couldn’t out-wait
the robins’
slow, drawn out antiphons,
    warbling down from the trees,
    trailing silence through the leaves.

These psalm-like prayers
prompted  "Amens"
from those below
not too busy to care
    who sang when
        or if the last solar lantern
            came on before ten.


Dennis R. Keefe, 9/30/12

 

SIDES

 

Did you appreciate the shade?

I did my part today

Any good walnut tree would

The sun, then high in arc, has passed on

Now, low, near done

It highlights my undersides

 

Look up

Try a different angle

I have colors to show

Should you notice

 

 

DRK

10/11/20

7/21/23

 

 

SEPTEMBER SENSE

 

High summer inches toward dog days

And low autumn

The breeze coming through the screens

Rattles the dried up leaves still clinging to the maple tree 

October, a few days away

Warns, take this opportunity

To enjoy light

Laced through walnut and locust leaves

 

I imagine them counting down the weeks

Maybe days

'Til colder winds

Move only conifers and limbs

A different sound, indeed

Frost is next

My heated birdbath's first test

 

DRK

9/23/20

 

 

 

HIGH SUMMER HARVEST

 

First walnut of the year

Up the driveway with squirrel

Seeking to secure

Under the tree in front of me 

But rodent muster

Not passed

Ditto,  the zebra grass 

Around the corner

 

Frozen entree in January?

Or seedling for the new year? 

 

DRK

8/26/20

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SOUND OF HARVEST

HINT:  NOT SILENCE

 

Did you hear it?

The clatter-whump of walnuts 

One minute, hidden up there

The next,

One hundred and forty-one

From tree to grass in seconds

Awesome

Carole counted as she raked, picked

And stored in a yard waste bin

Wait.  Twenty one more in the flower beds

 

The tree sighed in relief

Mission done, nuts on the ground

A gazillion leaves on the way

See you in the spring

 

DRK

9/20/23

 

 

SEDUM RED

 

Sedum red

Sedum red

Put to bed

Mosquitoes

And this muggy-

Ness

 

If you please

Turn the leaves

We’ll chill

Six months or so

No less

 

 

DRK

9/10/21