Through green-gold leaves backlit by the sun, a scarlet flame and the slow, newspaper flap of black and white: pileated. The Good God Bird.
The view from my front porch first thing in the morning, in 140 or fewer characters.
Monthly Archives: April 2010
When I come out, I find my chair...
When I come out, I find my chair turned to the wall, two jets taking their trails along with them into the west, the sun’s flaming sword.
Windy at sunrise, and the thermometer...
Windy at sunrise, and the thermometer’s arrow just past 32. I scan the low spots for frost, thinking about the oaks’ Rapunzel blooms.
Tagged oaks
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A groundhog emerges from the stream...
A groundhog emerges from the stream and climbs the roadbank. I glance away for a moment and a turkey takes his place, shining like obsidian.
Tagged groundhog, wild turkey
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Drum of rain on the roof and the...
Drum of rain on the roof and the birds sound distant—robin, field sparrow, cowbird—the world greener than it’s been in seven months.
Tagged cowbird, field sparrow, rain, robin
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Sometime past 7:30, the birds...
Sometime past 7:30, the birds fall silent for half a minute and there’s only fog, a slow drip from leaves no larger than squirrels’ ears.
Tagged fog
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Chipping sparrows are mating on...
Chipping sparrows are mating on top of the wall around my garden: she raises her tail and he rushes forward for the one-second cloacal kiss.
Tagged chipping sparrow
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Mid-morning sun: I’m almost...
Mid-morning sun: I’m almost baking until the wind blows, cool as midnight, the chitter of goldfinches interrupted by a raven’s cronk.
Tagged goldfinches, raven
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Every day is the earth’s...
Every day is the earth’s birthday. The largest peony plant, though still uncurling, already sports ten small planets midwived by ants.
Tagged ants, Earth Day, peony
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A scarlet bough at the woods&#...
A scarlet bough at the woods’ edge: I peer through binoculars at the first red maple keys. Deer straggle by in their ragged spring coats.
Tagged deer, red maple
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Sun filtered by thin cirrostratus...
Sun filtered by thin cirrostratus clouds. The hawk’s shadow is soft as a squirrel’s tail, but it still sets off all the alarms.
Tagged redtail, squirrels
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What makes the spring peepers...
What makes the spring peepers start calling in the middle of a morning, with sun so strong I can see the faint pollen filming the floor?
Tagged spring peeper
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The French lilac whitening into...
The French lilac whitening into blossom, its once-smooth profile smashed by last October’s snowstorm, finally looks wild against the woods.
Tagged lilac
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A brief blaze of sun through a...
A brief blaze of sun through a hole in the clouds. The bridal wreath bush is in full bloom, measuring the wind with stiff white fingers.
Tagged bridal wreath
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The mayapples next to the creek...
The mayapples next to the creek have opened their umbrellas. We do need rain. Already, the top branches of the crabapple have caught fire.
Tagged crabapple, mayapples
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Squirrels grapple on a skinny...
Squirrels grapple on a skinny branch 20 feet up. One falls to the ground with a loud plop and races off, sun shining through its tail.
Tagged squirrels
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Thick ground fog, one degree below...
Thick ground fog, one degree below freezing. The trees grow sharper as the sun begins to blur. Please don’t flower yet, I tell the oaks.
Tagged fog, oaks
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At 8:02 a patter of rain too brief...
At 8:02 a patter of rain too brief to even darken the sidewalk. Nuthatch, field sparrow. A crow bleats like a lamb with a hand on its neck.
Tagged crows, field sparrow, nuthatch
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The Cooper’s hawk swoops...
The Cooper’s hawk swoops down from the woods’ edge into the ditch and dips his beak again and again in its cold clear blood.
Tagged Cooper's hawk
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A groundhog among the daffodils...
A groundhog among the daffodils rears up on its haunches like the very large squirrel that it is. A tiger swallowtail careens past.
Drifts of white on the springhouse...
Drifts of white on the springhouse roof: not fallen blossoms, but last night’s pellet snow. Tree creaks join the dawn chorus.
Tagged dawn
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Time has slowed again with the...
Time has slowed again with the return of cold weather. The bleeding-hearts in my garden are huddling on half-grown stems.
Tagged bleeding-heart
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The miniature daffodils around...
The miniature daffodils around the dog statue have shriveled in the night. Turkeys display at the edge of the field, reversible blooms.
Tagged daffodils, wild turkey
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Shirtsleeves at dawn. I rub my...
Shirtsleeves at dawn. I rub my eyes at the new blossom-clouds, at green fogs of leaves. It’s too sudden, a premature ejaculation of spring.
Tagged dawn
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Bumblebees joust, and a sun-drugged...
Bumblebees joust, and a sun-drugged honeybee wanders the folds of my jeans. Spring’s parade devolves into a mob, everything blooming at once.
Tagged bumblebees, honeybees
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Yellow at daybreak: forsythia,...
Yellow at daybreak: forsythia, daffodils, the spicebush by the springhouse, a flock of goldfinches… what else? The sun crests the ridge.
Tagged daffodils, forsythia, goldfinches, spicebush, springhouse, sunrise
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A hermit thrush lands beside the...
A hermit thrush lands beside the porch and sings: that eldritch almost-whisper, spirit of the forest. Church bells. A distant chainsaw.
Tagged hermit thrush
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Such a startling and ridiculous...
Such a startling and ridiculous sound, the turkey’s gobble—like gargling with marbles. And then a blue-headed vireo’s quiet soliloquy.
Sunrise, and a red-winged blackbird...
Sunrise, and a red-winged blackbird calls twice: sound like a blood-shot sun half-submerged in dark feathers, part trill, part gurgle.
The springhouse phoebe has a mate...
The springhouse phoebe has a mate. He sings from the crabapple while she flutters under the eaves, bill thrusting into the old nest.
Tagged crabapple, phoebe, springhouse
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