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.

PARAKEET        [pictured: Budgerigar]

THE BIRD WITH THE COPPERY, KEEN CLAWS --Wallace Stevens (U.S.)
      "Above the forest of the parakeets"
        (--The parakeet meets Plato!?)

I KNOW HOW IT FEELS --Alan Kaufman (U.S.)
      "My parakeet is trying to kill himself"
        (--Avian suicide: a growing problem; I love the line, "It's so hard to kill yourself when you're a bird.")

CYCLES --Charles Albano (U.S.)
      "Friday is our parakeet"
        (--a feathered friend with too many feathers!)

BAD BIRD --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "My parakeet's an evil bird"
        (--nonsense verse, really; but the bird really does "waddle"!)

BUDGIE IN A CAGE --Michelle Rogge Gannon (U.S.)
      "After she took to attacking the wood"
        (--BTW, the bird's [human] name is "Kiwi"; and yes, a lone woman in a cage is a tragic thing.)
 

PARDALOTE, SPOTTED

DUET --Judie Peet (Australia)
      "In all the silent woodland nothing moved"
 

PARROT, AFRICAN GRAY

FREE-VERSE PANTOUM WITH GARBANZOS AND PARROT --Nelson Miller (U.S.)
      "Shimmering faint gold"
 

PEAFOWL, INDIAN ("Peacock")        [photo, TCG]

THE PEACOCK --Guillaume Apollinaire (France)
      "By spreading his tail this bird so fair"

DOMINATION OF BLACK --Wallace Stevens (U.S.)
      "At night, by the fire"
        (--birds as symbols for blind life, fear of death?)
 

PENGUIN, EMPEROR

PENGUIN MACHO FOR SILVIA --Nelson Miller (U.S.)
      "For two months in the black Antarctic night"
 

PHEASANT        [pictured: (Japanese) Green Pheasant]

"A MOUNTAIN PHEASANT" --Buson (Japan)
 

PHOEBE, BLACK

BLACK PHOEBE --Penny Wilkes (U.S.)
      "I call him Flash Fleetwing"
 

PIGEON, ROCK (Domestic ~; Rock Dove)        [photo: TCG]

HIGH FLYERS --Charles Albano (U.S.)
      "Aloft those tall, tar-papered coops"
        (--pigeons at war, with POW's, even--and not a stool pigeon among 'em!)
 

PIGEON, STOCK (Stock Dove)

"O NIGHTINGALE! THOU SURELY ART" --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
 

QUAIL, COMMON (Eurasian ~)

SUMMER MOOD --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)
      "I love at eventide to walk alone"
 

QUAIL, JAPANESE

TWILIGHT --Basho (Japan)
      "'Hawk-eyes too will fail'"
 

RAVEN, COMMON        [photo: TCG]

THE RAVENS NEST --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)
      "Upon the collar of an hugh old oak"

THE RAVEN --Edgar Allan Poe (U.S.)
      "Once upon a midnight dreary"

NOAH'S RAVEN --W. S. Merwin (U.S.)
      "Why shoud I have returned?"
        (--a haunting voice of avian alterity)

RAVEN IS TWO-FACED --Robert H. Davis (U.S. [Native American])
      "Raven eyes blink"
        (--The Native meets deconstruction? . . .)

alt/myth.org --Lynn Samsel (U.S.)
      "whatif"
 

ROBIN, AMERICAN        [photo: TCG]

"A BIRD CAME DOWN THE WALK" --Emily Dickinson (U.S.)

REALITY II --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "hey, was that a robin"

TATTERED TRIPLET --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "I tore my head in two, and called one mine"

THE WEIGHT OF INNER AIR --Frank Stokes (U.S.)
      "Two they are"
        (--a subtly beautiful meditation on "the price / of flight")

TURDUS MIGRATORIUS COMES TO THE ARCTIC --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "'cheerup, cheerily, cheerup, cheerily'"
        (--based on a recent newscast on global warming)

FireEngineRed Toolbox --Rachel Palmer (U.S.)
      "At an August picnic with family"
 

ROBIN, EUROPEAN

DEATH AND BURIAL OF COCK ROBIN --Anonymous (Gr. Brit.)
      "Who killed Cock Robin?"

from THE TASK --William Cowper (Gr. Brit.)
      ". . . No noise is here, or none that hinders thought."

INSCRIPTIONS VII: WRITTEN WITH A SLATE PENCIL . . . --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Stranger! this hillock of mis-shapen stones"
        (--This poem includes the memorable final line, "And let the redbreast hop from stone to stone.")

THE REDBREAST CHASING THE BUTTERFLY --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Art thou the bird whom Man loves best,"
        (--The poet begrudges a robin his meal. . . .)

THE AUTUMN ROBIN --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)
      "Sweet little Bird in russet coat"

IN THE WOODS OF RYDAL --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Wild Redbreast! hadst thou at Jemima's lip"
        (--A robin alights on our venerable poet. . . .)

THE REDBREAST (SUGGESTED IN A WESTMORELAND COTTAGE) --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Driven in by Autumn's sharpening air"
        (--Dr. Robin makes a house call. . . .)

"I KNOW AN AGED MAN CONSTRAINED TO DWELL" --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
        (--One of Wordsworth's old solitaires & the only [avian] love left to him . . .)
 

ROBIN, HOODED

DANCES ON THE EDGE --Judie Peet (Australia)
      "A Hooded Robin"
        (--An Australian species "Dances on the edge of extinction." . . .)
 

ROSELLA, EASTERN

THE CONTRAST: THE PARROT AND THE WREN --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "Within her gilded cage confined,"
 

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)