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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

The Morning Porch
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April 15, 2013March 5, 2010 by Dave Bonta

Dawn. The Cooper’s hawk is back, his kak-kak-kak echoing off the icy snow. I scan the trees, a haystack of branches, for that fierce needle.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags Cooper's hawk, dawn, hawks
Sunrise. A bluebird sings from…
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On This Day

  • February 27, 2025
    Hard rain at daybreak easing off into fog. The ground under the trees is still more white than brown. The voices in the creek have…
  • February 27, 2024
    Swans before dawn, their moonlit cries drifting down from over the north end of the mountain. A quiet trickle from the stream. The scent of…
  • February 27, 2023
    Sun through thin clouds; a quiet morning. Three chipmunks, one after another, cross the yard and go under my porch. Either someone’s in heat, or…
  • February 27, 2022
    Deep blue sky; blindingly white ground. A crow lands at the woods’ edge and clears its throat. A Cooper’s hawk flutters off like a fast…
  • February 27, 2021
    Both ridges vanish into fog. A squirrel missing the end of its tail disinters a black walnut from the frozen earth.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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