Rotted lengths. In spring,
lichen spreads the deck,
symbiosis of fungus, alga.
Splashes on worn wood.
Lichen’s foliose thallus
blooms when wet,
paper cortex transparent,
bright photobiont beneath.
The winter wren lights there,
tilts its head. The heart,
pulsing the whole body,
slows. 10, 9, 8 beats per second.
Friend, how long you’ve
trilled from the willow
as we each start our day.
On the railing, a crumb,
rendered suet,
strained kidney fat.
For you it will hold.
The factsheet reads, “Most [Avian Influenza] viruses cause asymptomatic infections. . . ” a few strains, “nearly 100% mortality.” For me, a 50-50. We cannot know what time remains. Feeders are not proscribed yet.
Why do I keep vigil?
What say to unlifted fog,
ridges but appearing?
You hear what can’t
pass these panes,
pause, flit away.
Florence A. Merriam writes of the winter wren, “the nest of this brave little bird is snug and warm, made of moss, lined with soft feathers. . . lodged in crevices in thick, coniferous woods.”
What nest against the press?
What carved burl dark?
What softness can I offer
from planks and angles,
often stunned to silence
behind glass?
“appreciate (@”pri:JIeIt), v. 2. To estimate aright, to perceive the full force of. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne iv. 124 The physiological reader only can appreciate the profound sagacity of this conclusion. 1842 Alison Hist. Eur. lvii. §43 IX. 41 Napoleon . . instantly appreciating the magnitude of the danger. 1875 Grindon Life xiii. 167 Until the truth of any thing . . be ap- preciated, its error, if any, cannot be detected.”
Passed on deep in hollow bones,
you find moss on the darkest side,
gather feathers of fallen fellows,
weave with clever beak a place to sleep.
“appreciation (@pri:JI”eIJ@n). 3. Perception, recognition, intelligent notice. . . esp. perception of delicate impressions or distinctions. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 52 þis word for notiþ or takiþ appreciacoun. . . Mod. Men differ greatly in their appreciation of varieties of vowel sound.”
Without alga, sporing fungus
withers. Dry gusts drain colors,
must fracture the thallus,
translate both.
The travelers “adhere to the substrate and immediately. . . ,” for some, “the circular thallus forms a growing edge and a mature central portion. . . Fruc- ticose species form a holdfast and a vertical branch from the original fragment.”
So little I can know, moments.
True, on some winds,
your song carries.∗
But the brave bright eye,
the distinguishing ear,
the trembling heart,
even distant,
in drought, I feel
the full worth of.
——–
∗“Per unit weight, the Winter Wren delivers its song with 10 times more power than a crowing rooster.”
References:
Florence Merriam’s Birds Through an Opera-Glass. https://www.loc.gov/item/26003330/ “Avian Influenza ‘Bird Flu’ Factsheet.” ACVP. https://www.acvp.org/page/Bird_Flu_Factsheet Definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary 1989, 2nd ed.
“Lichen life cycle.” British Lichen Society. https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/learning/lichen-life-cycle
“Winter Wren.” CornellLab. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Winter_Wren/
—
Naomi C. Gades is an assistant professor of English at Frostburg State University. Her poems have been published in the Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning and in the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts’ Against Absence project.
