Robins
by Ann Bogle
Pine nerves spike and row. A little calm in the snowy woods not news at first. It's April, so spring will be here again. Robins come, a man of robins, a steward of guards, march of hoof prints by the side-back door, they did not stay, picked another tree, another yard for their orgy—I was on to them. My mother saw just one in her yard.
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Author's Note
This species was first described in 1766 by Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his _Systema Naturae_ as _Turdus migratorius_.
Published in Matchbook, February 2014:
Other stories by Ann Bogle
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Tightly sprung.
Always a pleasure, Ann.
*
Oh, oh. Aquavit and spring in St. Louis Park. Goodness gracious!
Fav.
Sweet! fv*
Good for animals group.
I like this one a lot, Ann, but the rhyme of "row" and "snow" (don't know if it's ear rhyme or just eye rhyme) throws me off in the reading.
"in front of the side-back door"
Great!
"I was on to them"
Fabulous line.
Bill, thanks for the small critique. I like those from you and from others as well, as long as they are constructive and discerning.
Edits, April 22, 2013, 9:30 a.m. to reflect low rhyme.
Thanks, other readers, as well.
The robins in Minneapolis/St. Paul were reported on in the bird column locally. My mother relayed it humorously at her birthday dinner last evening. I had already written the prose poem, first as a status line at Fb, days before the article about them, and a few days after I had seen the robin congery and hoof prints outside the back side-door. The gist is similar, news and prose poem. My sister sincerely doubted that male robins would go together to scope out a town prior to nesting. The female robins are elsewhere, waiting? Where, which town? The males were stranded here by snow, the article said. Most remaining snow slipped away overnight.
I saw a man robin that looked plump and juicy already today. The European robin is more beautiful in photos.
"I saw a man robin that looked plump and juicy already today. The European robin is more beautiful in photos."
Man or woman robin, if woman robin maybe even pregnant.
European robin seems more beautiful in photos.
Nice. Welcome spring. *
Thank you, Beate!
Mina Loy wrote that it takes ten years to write a poem. This poem, emailed as a note to David Mikics first, before I sent it as a status line to Fb, took 20 years to write thrice in about sixty minutes. The other story reminds me of Toni Morrison's tree of birds. The robins filled the tree outside my bedroom window in Houston, before the Internet, before March of the Penguins, yet I knew, as I peeked through the blinds that mid-morning to seek the source of cacaphony, and my cat knew, they were sudden men.
Dot-spotting, May 6, 2013