I just returned from a trip to Arkansas and saw a couple magnificent eagles perched in trees by water. They move south as the freezing line drops so they can have access to open waterways for fishing.
I keep trying to get the right touch of eagle-energy in a poem. This was one of my early attempts, from about 1980, when they were so rare we drove out toward Lecompton to find them:
Pilgrimage of Eagles
I dream of eagles winging over the river
and know northern waters are frozen shut.
The same band of eagles returns
to cottonwoods on the Kaw.
They forgive us our cities and persist,
following open waters just past the edge of ice.
Each year we journey up
to watch them circle clouds like Gods,
drop, and take fish.
They silence the children.
When snow arrives from the northlands
they appear and enter our dreams.
We sense them for miles away
like geese flying over at
voices calling from just beyond conversation.
Eagles bring sleet, a curtain of darkness:
the long season of what remains
after wind strips away familiar summer.
We learn to listen for them in the dark,
within the quietest moments of sleep.
c. Denise Low
As a poet, and an avid reader, I have to say that I very much enjoyed my leisurely stroll through your blog...it was time well spent; entertaining and enlightening. I invite you to visit my own, if you like...
ReplyDeleteEagles are Free
ReplyDeleteEagles conscious of their role as symbol
Preen the confetti from their bald heads
In a dark bluff ruled by a vulture
With a necktie of question marks.
A union of eagles even, hot rivets
Soaring over the I-beam landscape
With the hush, hush of secret accords
And immutable cosmic winds,
Painting their claws blue
On the long empty telephone wire
Kept open under the sea of tranquility
That washes up the carcasses of smiling rats.
Eagles crowding the maple podium,
Eagles pushing closer to see.
A man with a drinking bird
Three years sober and full of the spirit
With his jacket lined with watches
Asking the time of a pale woman in a headdress
Whose arms move with surprising freedom
As she answers in an impossible whisper telepathically.
Thanks for the kind words, lettershaper. And Richard, again, what fun. The necktie of question marks is so nice. I like your diction a lot. DL
ReplyDelete