The POEMS

Under each bird name, the poems are arranged chronologically; first lines are also given below each poem title, as a potentially helpful spur to the memory. For untitled poems, the first line only is given instead (and identified as such via enclosing quotation marks). I would eventually like to gloss/annotate all of the texts herein--to make it a true "anthology"--but for now I've merely added comments immediately after a few of the entries, in parentheses, as they occurred to me. NOTE: These poetry texts are provided only "for purposes such as criticism, comment . . . teaching, scholarship, or research."

Oops--Let's try that BIRD Species/Type INDEX. . . .

NEW (5/08): I've divided this "POEMS" section into EIGHT separate pages, for quicker loading. . . .

A-C     D-G     H-L     M-O     P-R     S-T     U-Z     Misc.

HARRIER, NORTHERN (Marsh Hawk)

MARSH HAWKS --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "In the morning they glide"
 

HAWK        [pictured: Red-shouldered Hawk]

FOUR POEMS FOR A CHILD SON --Simon J. Ortiz (U.S. [Native American])
      "It has to do with full moments"

HAWK --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "Hawk"

I, THE HAWK --Charles Albano (U.S.)
      "Weightless,"
 

HAWK, COOPER'S

HAWK --Stephen Dunn (U.S.)
      "What a needy, desperate thing"

COOPER'S HAWK --David Chorlton (U.S.)
      "Next to its mirror in the pines"

COOPER'S HAWK --Karen Stromberg (U.S.)
      "In the summer"
 

HAWK, RED-TAILED    {see also "HAWK," above}

HURT HAWKS --Robinson Jeffers (U.S.)
      "The broken pillar of the wing jags from the clotted shoulder"
 

HAWK, SHARP-SHINNED

FEEDING THE BIRDS --Robert Cording (U.S.)
      "I wanted to do something"
        (--Bird-hawk near a feeder: the war continues. . . .)
 

HERON, GRAY

"THE PASSER BYE OFT STOPS HIS HORSE TO LOOK" --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)

"HIGH OVERHEAD THAT SILENT THRONE" --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)

THE GRAY HERON --Galway Kinnell (U.S.)
      "It held its head still"
 

HERON, GREAT BLUE (incl. "Great White Heron")

THE HERON --Theodore Roethke (U.S.)
      "The heron stands in water where the swamp"

A POEM FOR THE BLUE HERON --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "Now the blue heron"

AZTLAN: THE PLACE OF THE HERON --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "Grey on blue, omen-bird, the heron"

HERONS IN WINTER IN THE FROZEN MARSH --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "All winter"

SOME HERONS --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "A blue preacher"

WINGS --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "I saw the heron"

BLUE HERON STONE --Polly Brown (U.S.)
      "Because I could not bring back"
        (--truly a wonderful treatment . . .)

from RETURNING FROM THE ENEMY --Joy Harjo (U.S. [Native American])
      "The elegant white heron on Kualoa Beach . . . ."

AM I BLUE --Dave Ruslander (U.S.)
      "There's a rookery."

BLUE FISHERMEN --Dave Ruslander (U.S.)
      "I watch blue fishermen wade in the James"

GREAT BLUE CINQUAINS --Dave Ruslander (U.S.)
      "Heron fish"

SNAPSHOT --Dave Ruslander (U.S.)
      "We paddle into Okefenokee,"
 

HERON, WESTERN REEF-

WAITING FOR E. GULARIS --Linda Pastan (U.S.)
      "Exile"
 

HUMMINGBIRD        [pictured: Calliope Hummingbird]

HUMMINGBIRD --Raymond Carver (U.S.)
      "Suppose I say _summer_,"

HUMMINGBIRD --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "whisk of brown not even breath enough,"
 

HUMMINGBIRD, RUBY-THROATED    {see also "HUMMINGBIRD," above}

"A ROUTE OF EVANESCENCE" --Emily Dickinson (U.S.)

HUMMINGBIRDS --Robert Cording (U.S.)
      "I don't know when I lost"
 

JAY, BLUE        [photo: TCG]

from O JAY! --George Parsons Lathrop (U.S.)
      "O jay--"
        (--This fellow had obviously never heard all of the Blue Jay's sometimes quite "melodious" repertoire.)

BLUE JAY --Robert Francis (U.S.)
      "So bandit-eyed, so undovelike a bird"
        (--tour de force of tension and contrast)

"CRAZY JAY BLUE)" --e. e. cummings (U.S.)
 

JUNCO, DARK-EYED        [photo: TCG]

FEEDING THE BIRDS --Robert Cording (U.S.)
      "I wanted to do something"
        (--Bird-hawk near a feeder: the war continues. . . .)

BIRD POEM II --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "a junco must be a quiet one"
 

JUNGLEFOWL, RED (Domestic Fowl)

from AN EVENING WALK --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Sweetly ferocious, round his native walks,"

WRITTEN IN MARCH --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "The Cock is crowing"

from THE PRELUDE --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Behold the Parent Hen amid her Brood,"

DEPRESSION BEFORE SPRING --Wallace Stevens (U.S.)
      "The cock crows"
 

KESTREL, COMMON (Eurasian ~)

THE WINDHOVER --Gerard Manley Hopkins (Gr. Brit.)
      "I caught this morning morning's minion, king-"
        (--from a small falcon to Christ)
 

KINGBIRD, EASTERN        [photo: TCG]

from THE TYRANT FLY-CATCHER, OR KING BIRD --Alexander Wilson (U.S.)
      "Kill not thy friend, who thy whole harvest shields"

"FOR ANY RUFFIAN OF THE SKY" --e. e. cummings (U.S.)
 

KINGFISHER, BELTED

THE KINGFISHER --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "The kingfisher rises out of the black wave"
 

KINGFISHER, COMMON (Eurasian ~)

THE KINGFISHER --W. H. Davies (Gr. Brit.)
      "It was the Rainbow gave thee birth"
 

KITE, RED

"THE SAILING PUDDOCK SWEEPS ABOUT FOR PREY" --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)
 

KOOKABURRA        [pictured: Laughing Kookaburra]

THE KOOKABURRAS --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "In every heart there is a coward and a procrastinator."
        (--perhaps a bird-lover's greatest dilemma & nightmare)
 

LINNET, EURASIAN

THE TABLES TURNED --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books"
        (--W.'s philosophy of "Nature" in a nutshell)
 

LOON, COMMON

MY LOVE HAS DEPARTED --traditional (Chippewa)
      "A loon"

THE LOON ON OAK-HEAD POND --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "cries for three days, in the gray mist."
 

A-C     D-G     H-L     M-O     P-R     S-T     U-Z     Misc.

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-=NETIZEN NOTES (info on poem authors)