Today’s poem is an epistolary poem, a poem in the form of a letter. Finding topics for poems this month has never been a problem, but I seem to get bogged down in what form the poems should take. The more I played with my ideas about Venus, which has been putting on quite a show this month, it became clear that this poem should be a little love note to the evening star.

Dear Venus,

Every evening, when the sky is clear,
I scan the western sky
searching for your blazing light.
You’re never hard to find,
outshining every star.

I take each worry from my day,
seal it in a bubble,
then send them off to you.
Your murky clouds swallow
Them up, one by one,
without complaint.

Back on earth, I stand
beneath your dazzling glow
and feel lighter.

Thank you.

Love,

A friend

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2020

Previous “News From the Natural World” poems:

April 15: Listen
April 14: Ode to a Tide Pool
April 11: What Does A Bird’s Egg Know?
April 10: Clusters of Clover
April 9: Song of the Pink Moon
April 8: Jewel of the Jungle
April 5: Phantom of the Forest
April 4: To Build a Nest
April 3: Apple Cake
April 2: Specimen
April 1: Forest Snail

Eggs, the subject of today’s poem, seemed like a good choice for Easter weekend. The idea came from this episode of The Brain Scoop with Emily Graslie and Dr. John Bates of Chicago’s Field Museum. The form was inspired by Joyce Sidman‘s wise poem, “What Do the Trees Know?” from Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold.

What Does a Bird’s Egg Know?

What Does a Bird’s Egg Know?

To be strong enough to hold
mother bird as she protects
her babies from the cold.

What Does a Bird’s Egg Know?

The pattern and color to best conceal
each one from hungry bears or snakes,
maybe speckled brown or spotted teal.

What Does a Bird’s Egg Know?

To be the just right shape and size
for baby birds to grow and stretch
so wings are ready to reach for the sky.

Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2020

Other “News From the Natural World” poems:

April 10: Clusters of Clover
April 9: Song of the Pink Moon
April 8: Jewel of the Jungle
April 5: Phantom of the Forest
April 4: To Build a Nest
April 3: Apple Cake
April 2: Specimen
April 1: Forest Snail

Every Tuesday, the New York Times has a section devoted to science. When I opened the paper yesterday and saw this photo, I knew I had to write a poem about this enchanting little bird!

You can read an expanded version of this article here. This story was also featured in Esquire.

“Jewel of the Jungle”
(South Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher)

Hidden deep within a jungle
of the far-off Philippines
lives a bird so small and shy
she’s hardly ever seen.

Adorned in the colors of sunset,
streaked purple, orange, gold,
with bright black eyes that shine like night,
she’s a dazzling sight to behold.

Zipping, darting through the trees
finding insects for each meal,
she grabs them in her dagger-like bill,
then gulps them down with zeal.

Her jungle home is threatened
by our axes and our brawn.
Let’s stop this mad destruction
Before her habitat is gone.

Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2020

Other “News From the Natural World” poems:

April 5: Phantom of the Forest
April 4: To Build a Nest
April 3: Apple Cake
April 2: Specimen
April 1: Forest Snail

Yesterday, I contributed a line to the Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem. Find out which of my lines Tara Smith chose here, then follow the progress of this year’s “choose your own adventure” version of the poem at the links below.

1 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch, deowriter
4 Liz Steinglass
5 Buffy Silverman
6 Kay McGriff
7 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8 Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
11 Janet Fagel, hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
15 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
20 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22 Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23 Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
24 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work That Matters
27 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28
29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan

Today’s poem was inspired by the pileated woodpecker who was breakfasting at a stump in my yard this morning.

Phantom of the forest,
you swoop into a clearing
on silky black feathers,
white epaulets flashing on
broad wings.

You set to work at once,
drilling, gouging, chiseling
precise rectangles in
a soft, decaying stump.

Your noble head,
capped by a lick of flame,
bobs up and down.
You pause to swallow
termite, ant, or beetle,
savory and satisfying.

Full for now, you’re gone
in a sudden swirl of black
and white and red.
Phantom of the forest.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2020

Other “News From the Natural World” poems:

April 4: To Build a Nest
April 3: Apple Cake
April 2: Specimen
April 1: Forest Snail

Find links to more National Poetry Month Projects at Jama’s Alphabet Soup. Also, you can follow the progress of the Progressive poem at the links below:

1 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch, deowriter
4 Liz Steinglass
5 Buffy Silverman
6 Kay McGriff
7 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8 Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
11 Janet Fagel, hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
15 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
20 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22 Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23 Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
24 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work That Matters
27 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28
29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan

Today’s poem was inspired by a recent article in the New York Times, “Why Birds Are the World’s Best Engineers,” a post from the National Audubon Society, “What Nesting Materials Are Safe for Birds?” and this nest, which my boys found in our yard many years ago:

To Build a Nest

When spring arrives
and days grow warm,
Mother robin knows
it’s time to build her nest.

Searching woods and
fallow fields, she scavenges
dried twigs and vines
to build her sturdy nest.

Slowly, slowly, surely,
she presses tangled
scraps and stalks
into a cozy nest.

She daubs the rim
and fills small gaps
with bits of goopy mud
to reinforce her nest.

Inside the cup, a woven whirl
of soft dry grass will
cushion cyan blue eggs
that soon will fill her nest.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2020

Other “News From the Natural World” poems:

April 3: Apple Cake
April 2: Specimen
April 1: Forest Snail

Find links to more National Poetry Month Projects at Jama’s Alphabet Soup. Also, you can follow the progress of the Progressive poem at the links below:

1 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3 Jone MacCulloch, deowriter
4 Liz Steinglass
5 Buffy Silverman
6 Kay McGriff at https://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/
7 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8 Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
11 Janet Fagel, hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
15 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18 Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19 Tabatha at Opposite of Indifference
20 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22 Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23 Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
24 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work That Matters
27 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28
29 Fran Haley at lit bits and pieces
30 Michelle Kogan