Small against this picture
Summer Birds
The summer birds are flinting. Spring is
two weeks away and the trees are already
talking to each other. One tree says: I am here.
Another responds: Where is here? It was
winter today; warmest day of the new year.
Buds are squeezing through the branches
and cirrus blue is soaking in lengthening
light, deeper, longer. Stars once laden with
December hoar now sashay with March sequins
in their eyes. Brazen coyotes patrol down from
the hills, the trigger of bravado in their hunt.
The mutes of winter have been removed and
threadgathering begins in earnest. The trees talk
all night. In places we can’t see, fevered nest
building moves the sun across the sky. Wind
blusters across the desertscape and everything
it traces becomes assemblage in its artcraft.
Spring wields the early brush and cold recants the
palette. I am small against this picture and, as the
air freshens with the day’s return, open my first
window to the night. These are the days of change
and I am changed by the days that change them.
A tree calls out: Listen! I am still here. Another
calls back: Let us make this season of life.
And the summer birds flint
all through the night.
Joseph Gallo
March 6, 2007
post-time 3:47 PM
6 Comments:
I love the coloring and contrast in all these photos.
And this is the plum:
"The trees talk all night."
Wow.
Ventriloquist birds keep their leafy puppets articulating all night. Must be larks or mockers, what we call catbirds out here. One sits in one tree, another in another, and go back and forth. Sure sign of spring.
We've had warm weather out here, dancing sun and winter on its heels. Gangs of crow pass and caw as the dark news of their arrivals passes quickly through the greenery.
You can hear them from far off by the ruckus they cause in the reactions of the other birds. Everyone's gotta eat and the crows hunt eggs and nestlings.
If I'm not careful this might turn into another poem. Thanks for enjoying my photos and the talking trees, Billie. :-)
How beautiful, Joseph! Such a poetical prose.
And the pictures! Just love them...
The second one, although it has nothing to do with the actual film images, reminds me of Akira Kurosawa's film Dreams.
Down here we are as far from Fall as you guys up there are from Spring, and I'll tell you that I'm just as glad about it as you are. Summer's been toooooooo hot this year, gosh!
Think I'll sign the Brazilian way this time.
Beijinho :)
Stars once laden with
December hoar now sashay with March sequins in their eyes
This is how I'm starting to feel these days.
At least when I forget how stressed and busy I am.
LOL
Thanks for reminding me, love.
Beijinho = "Little kiss."
Awwww. Never had one in Brazilian before. ;-)
A beijinho is a typical Brazilian birthday party candy. It is prepared and served just like brigadeiro (chocolate fudge candy), but instead of cocoa powder it uses grated coconut. When rolled it can be covered with granulated sugar or grated coconut. Traditionally a single clove is stuck in the top of the candy.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Beijinho.jpg
Glad you liked the offering, Jonice. I am honored that you take the time to visit from all the way down in the Southern Hemisphere.
Fall is close for you and soon your summer will simmer down. Where I live, by mid-summer most people are tired of the heat as well. I love it. Mostly.
Best to you and please come visit again. We all enjoy seeing you. :-)
Joni, it sure beats lumping about bored to tears and your brain parked with the brake set. LOL
Glad you liked that little poem. A seasonal, as I call them. Every year something new and yet familiar whispers it was always there waiting for you to notice. I love this about life. I do.
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