parable,
war, suitcase, crack, careful, fruit, pounding, enough, birdsong,
fathom, save, dispute
Magpies
& Hawks
the
message is in the birdsong they sing back and forth
call
for each other greet the day the morning sun
as
it rises above taos mountain the nighttime is cracked open
for
a new day they sing the stories of their kind passed down
for
generations tell of heroic deeds of mighty wars
of
the afternoon the magpie clan fought the hawk
clan
hard
to call a winner a brave magpie leader was killed
hawk
had gotten a good pounding that day he
packed his suitcase
moved
his clan to another territory
he
had enough of the old dispute
wanted
to save his children
from
the old wars
fighting
fathoms carefully
they would build a new life
April
3, 2015
______________________________
Writer's Digest PAD Challenge Day 5.
A Snake In The Garden
when a little girl a very small child while visiting
my great aunt maggie’s farm i would often go there to play
with my aunt my mother would take me & pick me up later
one day while in the vegetable garden i was playing in the rows
i remember i lifted a bean leaf large and green
there staring back at me coiled beneath the beans
was a great big black snake i’m not sure
but i think he was smiling & spoke to me
in a breathy whisper he said hello little girl
i was so frightened i fled the garden & never returned to play there
for fear he would be waiting for me
April 5, 2015
13 comments:
The lessons of nature...of bird wars and snakes. I used to fear snakes and now I love their visits to the garden...so elusive, so important and still feared given a wide berth.
The magpie and hawk poem is wonderful, a parable with a message for humans. If only we knew to move ground to avoid disputes instead of fighting for the same piece of turf. Sigh. In the second, I can see the small you lifting up the leaves and finding the snake. Interesting that he smiled and appeared friendly. I remember once, gardening as a young mom, I came eyeball to eyeball with one of those HUGE green creatures with horns and huge eyes that look like aliens. Freaked me out! I took him out behind the back fence and hoped he'd go away.
Was that a horned worm?
interesting write...
How we learn about relationships in you writing today. The battle of the birds and the suspicious encounter with the snake both give us lessons in life.
Both of these pieces have a mythic quality and tone to them. I love both of them, my friend. The hawks and magpies tell us about the danger of clinging to our preferred comfort zones, being actual physical places, or those of the mind and emotions. The second one harkens back to the temptation in the Garden of Eden story, and reminds us of where our fear of snakes originated. Wonderful writing, Annell.
Elizabeth
A noble thing, saving one's children from the old wars, the old disputes and feuds. Too bad that magpies are smarter than people in this regard!
Whirligig Bits and Pieces
Small word phrases build life stories, reminding of choice we always have and freedom if not afraid to go beyond our boundaries....
wonderful.
The voice in both of these pieces sounds like the telling of legends. Very well told.
Ten transition in the two pieces is almost like accumulated wisdom...of facing fear and seeing beyond....I hope...I hope xo
wise birds and the little girl...and the first learning step to 'let go'...nicely put...
What excellent story poems.
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