Seasonally, bright green parrots visit Pasadena, CA, in huge flocks, to eat from the ripe fruit and nuts on people's trees. I always think they are amazing and beautiful, though to some people they are a nuisance. I wrote a poem about them entitled, "Bird Circus."
Bird Circus
.
Swoop and swirl
aloft they own the sky
.
mass calligraphy
sharp grass-green disappearing ink
punctuated scarlet
.
great swaths of brilliance
here and gone again
circles
loop-de-loops
.
perfectly choreographed
no visible conductor
.
green red green red
as wings in gleeful company
flash their greeting,
.
“We’re here! We’re back!”
.
rustling
raucous cawing and crowing
in all tones beyond the scale
all sharps no flats
.
an occasional “Hello Pretty Polly”
from a gloating escapee
.
and the crowd of hundreds
the flash mob flashing
green and red and green green green
settle and natter
in the nut trees
as dusk falls
.
dinner time
each with a walnut or pecan
clutched in a clawed fist
.
as the powerful jaw and beak
could slice a finger
but
caps a nut instead
.
delicately picking out the meat
discarding the shell
far below
.
comparing notes
bragging
scolding
expounding
loudly
joyfully
.
we own the air
we own the trees
we eat the nuts
.
try and stop us
.
as night settles there is
a welcome brief silence
and at daybreak
.
they help it break
with loud exclamations
plans for the day
nuts for breakfast
and gossip
forgotten overnight
.
and the last word
which must be had
.
before
Hey, Whoop,
Up and Away
.
swooping
slashing the sky
written music
incomprehensible
to primate hearing
.
and a lucky child below
finds a green feather
and perhaps
.
rarest treasure of all
.
a red one
from under the wing
.
flash on flash off
loud and bright
bird circus
come to town
.
