Friday March 22, 2019

The banks of moss above the road shine bright after last night’s rain. Two chickadees sing their spring songs as snowflakes fill the air.

On this date

Ten minutes before first light, the first distant, barking dog. Ten minutes before that, a barred owl’s cackle. …

Beads of rain that were shining moonlets 10 hours ago are now mere glitter. Night has shrunk to the dark iridescence in a butterfly's wing. …

Hazy and warm. As the sun climbs, the cicada chorus grows, and the field cricket in the garden chirps faster and faster. …

I marvel at how tall my tulip trees have grown, nonchalantly waving their leaves. "It was I who planted you! I who saved you from the deer!" …

cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket cricket CROW CROW CROW cricket cricket cricket crick …

A pileated woodpecker heading for the tall locusts lets out a whoop with every wingbeat, its crest like the bloody barb of a harpoon. …

A titmouse combs the dead cherry tree for insects, his black seed of an eye and wizard's cap bobbing as he snaps at shriveled leaves. …

A hummingbird defending her patch of soapwort buzzes an ovenbird, who walks back and forth on the cherry branches in his big pink feet. …

A still morning. Dew drips from the top roof onto the porch roof. Each birdcall—woodpecker, towhee, jay—is surrounded by acres of silence. …

The Morning Porch