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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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Plummer’s Hollow

March 30, 2009 by Dave Bonta

A new squeal from the locust trees. The wind is an eraser that works badly, and tears a hole in the woods if pressed too hard.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow
March 29, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Here in the clouds, one mourning dove has added an extra note to the beginning of his song, turning a dirge into a slow dance tune.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags mourning doves
March 28, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Dark morning. The fox squirrel’s tail flickers orange from the back of the big red maple whose buds have swollen into dime-sized stoplights.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags fox squirrel, gray squirrel, red maple
March 27, 2009 by Dave Bonta

The rain-soaked forest glistens in the sun, bejeweled. The air is full of traffic noise and gnats with shining wings.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags phoebe
March 26, 2009 by Dave Bonta

First rainy morning in weeks, but how quickly things turn to rust: rasp of a starling, a red-winged blackbird’s call, a scolding squirrel.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags gray squirrel, red-winged blackbird, starling
March 25, 2009 by Dave Bonta

A harsh cooing from the pine tree closest to the porch, like a hawk crossed with a dove. Two crows fly in, scold for a minute, and fly off.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, white pines
March 24, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Another cold, clear morning, with just enough wind to keep my sunlit breath from blocking my view. A killdeer calls from high overhead.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags deer
March 23, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Cardinal song followed by gargling laughter: a starling sits at the top of a locust, its bill a gleaming needle in the deep blue sky.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cardinal, starling
March 22, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Over the clang of church bells, the ethereal cries of wild swans: a huge high V off to the north. Sorry, folks. G-d has left the building.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow
March 21, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Cold and clear. Looking west, I spot a bright white dot on the far side of the field: the breast of a red-tailed hawk shining in the sun.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow
March 20, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Swirling snow, swan music, song sparrow, the tapping of a woodpecker, a chipmunk’s tock tock tock—forget God. Is your moment big enough?

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags chipmunks
March 19, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Dark rain clouds without much rain in them. The pure notes of tundra swans drift down from the immaculate tundra of the upper air.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags tundra swans
March 16, 2016March 18, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Bluebird, white-throated sparrow, a starling’s liquid note, and high overhead, a killdeer: the sky must be blue above the fog.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bluebird, deer, fog, killdeer, starling
March 17, 2009 by Dave Bonta

In the dim light of a misty morning, rain-slick surfaces glow: green lichens, purple raspberry canes, the yellow blades of foxtail millet.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black raspberry, foxtail millet, lichen
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On This Day

  • June 28, 2025
    Overcast and buggy, with the noise of a long-delayed tractor repair underway at the neighbor’s, and a blue jay transitioning from anxiety to alarm.
  • June 28, 2024
    Clear and cold. The beeps of quarry trucks mingle with the shrill calls of red-bellied woodpeckers. Two hummingbirds in a high-speed chase fly out of the woods and up over the house.
  • June 28, 2023
    Overcast and breezy, with a strong smell of burning chemicals. Off in the distance, a brown thrasher is singing whatever pops into his head.
  • June 28, 2021
    Sunny and hot. A catbird skulks in lilac shade. The unfurling beaks of wild garlic point in all directions, like a nervous flock of cranes.
  • June 28, 2020
    The towhee interrupts his window-tapping to attend to fledglings in the tall grass. Tree sparrows in the garden trill as they mate.

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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