Wednesday won the prize. All day we had torrents of rain alternating with mist. Now and again it would dry out, then a sneaky drizzle would begin, followed by instantaneous massive flooding. There was no escape if you got caught in it.
After work I parked in the shopping center during one of those brief dry spells. I was in the second row of cars from the curb. What is that, 20 yards? I got out and made it ten feet before the drizzle came, and was soaked before I reached the curb.
Amazingly, despite the dark days, every morning I've awakened to the most joyful sound of birds singing in the trees outside my window, chirping their little hearts out.
This week, too, I've been enjoying former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's book Delights & Shadows, and I found a poem that seems just right. I love it for its simplicity and for the way the poet wraps so much sensory information―sound, temperature, heaviness, thirst―around a single idea.
The Early Bird
Still dark, and raining hard
on a cold May morning
and yet the early bird
is out there chirping,
chirping its sweet-sour
wooden-pulley notes,
and the rest is here.
I'd like to add my congratulations to J. Patrick Lewis on being named the third U.S. Children's Poet Laureate! I was so excited to hear the news, as I love Pat's work. His humor, wordplay, intelligence with language, child-friendliness and range of subject matter make him an excellent choice for this award. We are so lucky! Congrats to Pat!
I reviewed his wonder-ful book, Skywriting: Poems to Fly, in September. If you step over to last week's Poetry Friday menu at Jama's, you'll find links to many more posts about J. Patrick Lewis.
The poetry roundup today is at The Drift Record.
25 comments:
I'm so thrilled that you're back, Toby! I've missed your blog posts and Poetry Fridays. What a perfect Ted Kooser poem you chose for this rainy May. The heart quickens with the happy cheer-rup of the robin outside a rain-streaked window.
I'm sitting in my living room watching the light come and listening to the birds "pulling up the dawn" after a week of endless rain (which is super unusual for us in Colorado)! Thanks for sharing this very perfect poem!
Toby, we, too, are "socked in" for what seems like an endless, soaking rain. Thank you for Kooer's poem. I'll try to keep chirping!
Of course, I love the Early Bird poem!
Clara, I wanted to say robins, because I always see robin pairs out there, but I'm so unfamiliar with bird songs that I chickened (!) out. I actually had an app for birdsongs on my iPod, but I gave the iPod to Zoe because I never used it.
Hi Carol. It seems as if most of the country has been under this deluge all week. Thanks for visiting!
Jane, let's hope for brilliant flowers once this weather goes by!
Thanks, JoAnn!
Ted Kooser's poem is beautiful! Finally sunny today but it's been raining here in Toronto, Canada for a week solid. I've noticed the birds too - jumping in the lawn between downpours. I love their music. One "early bird" likes to sing from the oak tree near my window at 5:30 am.
Perfect poem to share, Toby - thanks. We've just noticed a "regular" robin out back - first to hit the ground for grubs in the morning, and the other night, the last to sing out the day on a low branch. Had a nest last year; I bet there's another. Wishing you sunshine soon!
Love this perfect poem. Mostly I've been hearing cardinals chirping outside (they have a nest in our front bushes). We've had lots of rain, too -- but the brief inbetween sunny moments allowed me to appreciate bluebird, robin, sparrow, chickadee and woodpecker sightings.
oy, that early bird. around here they (a whole bird condo full of them) start up in the middle of the night. i just assume they're complaining about the rain like the rest of us, but we aren't keeping them up when they sleep.
or are we?
great share, and here's wishing you better weather as well.
Sheri, they sing at 5:30 outside my window, too. I can't believe you've been having the same weather up in Toronto! Wishing you some sun this weekend.
Robyn, there probably is another nest. Outside my mom's second floor window, in a pear tree, the same pair of robins return each year. But this year, after repairing the nest, the robins abandoned it and set up housekeeping somewhere else. We figured there was something wrong with the nest, but we didn't know what.
Jama, that's so cool about the cardinals. Can you see the nest? I think I must borrow my iPod back so I can memorize the bird calls of the common birds around here.
David, must be some contentious bird condo HOA board meetings you're hearing there. It's probably election time.
Here in southern Maryland, the wake-up call starts at 4:30, but my usual admiration for their cheeriness in the dark and the rain will now be enriched by the sense that they are hauling up dawn, note over note.
I think we're all pleased to be given heavy work, if it seems meaningful at all. Must remember this as I plan for next week...
Thanks, Toby!
The early bird was soon drowned out by yet another downpour...somewhere out there is the sun, yearning for a day all to itself!
Great pick!
Maybe our rain poems did an anti-rain dance, because we had SUN today!!!
(rain forecast every day next week...sigh...)
Heidi, yes, I think opportunities come to all of us to do the heavy work of hauling up dawn, for the benefit of those around us. Nice to look at it this way.
Tara, I like that yearning sun. :)
I hope they're wrong about that forecast, Mary Lee!
I love Ted's poem! That is exactly what I hear each morning, and it warms my heart!
Oh! I love that image...dawn on a pulley, drawn by a bird. :) Thanks for sharing!
Perfect poem for today, Monday too! We have robins outside the window singing at 4:30am for the last week, even with the rain. This is a delightful poem matching their joy. I like the vultures one on the same page at your link - lovely! Thanks for posting this.
Lorrie, Carlie, and Andromeda - glad you liked the poem as much as I did. That whole book, Delights & Shadows, is filled with such gems. Enjoy your week!
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