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Posts Tagged ‘kingfisher’

Morning Encouragement

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 17, 2021| 6 Comments »




I would like to be a kingfisher—
just for a morning.
I’d arrive at the edge of the pond
with the other kingfishers
and watch for crawdads.
“Catchin’ any?” I’d say
to the birds on my right.
“Nah,” they’d say,
“But we keep trying.”
“Good luck,” I’d say,
as took my own spot
in the branches,
waiting for the pond to still
so I could see the movement
at the bottom.
“Good luck,” they’d squawk back,
then they’d rattle with laughter
when at last I broke the pond surface
and came up, beak empty.
“Tough day at the pond,”
they’d rib. And I’d laugh, too.
Then we’d dive and dive and dive.
So often I come up empty.
How is it I sometimes forget to laugh?
But that morning,
every now and then,
one bird would get lucky.
“Your turn next,” she’d say,
her mouth full of shell.
And I’d laugh at how unglamorous
success can be. How crunchy.
All morning we’d go on like this,
diving and missing
and crunching and missing
and laughing and missing
so that by noon
when I was human again,
when I came up empty as I often do—
hungry for love, or eloquence or purpose—
I’d say to myself, “try again, darlin,”
and I’d try again, then break out
into a laughter wildly true,
the world rippling around me
like a pond that I trust
will eventually still.

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Opening the Deepest Ears

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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The kingfisher wakes me

with its strident rattle,

thrilling me out of sleep.

It’s been months since

I’ve seen one, and now

on this snowy morning

one clatters and chatters

me into spring.

 

The heart leaps up,

surprised it doesn’t

have wings. I’m here,

it beats, its own tuneless call.

Like the kingfisher, it’s ready

to dive into the deep.

I’m here, it calls again

from inner branches.

 

It need not be beautiful,

the song that reminds us

who we are—it calls to us

in its own undecipherable way

until one day when we hear it,

we can’t help but hear

our own name.

 

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Saying Yes

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 25, 2014| 1 Comment »

Live in the present. Do the things that need to be done. Do all the good you can each day. The future will unfold.
-Peace Pilgrim

Again the invitation
to meet the world just as it is
and fall in love.

To let the body weep
if it wants to weep.
To let the voice sing

because the song rises up
and says sing.
It does not matter

who is watching.
See the kingfisher, how he does not hesitate
before diving headlong

into the pond.
Love like that.
Do it now.

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