Arrow-tall Hickory pelts the earth with its potential offspring. In childhood, I spent many a day beneath just such a tree as squirrel or chipmunk or blue jay; peeling back thick, green, four-petaled husks till my fingernails were tarnished; cracking open the small taupe-brown orbs within; picking out and eating the sweet nutflesh.
Southward,
we chased Autumn,
through burnished, narrowed light
beneath an escort of sprung-coil,
gloss-winged birds.
We pursued Her flame-leafed trail —
a coy wink,
a sly step —
until we lost Her among
gnarled live-oaks
and regiments
of soaring,
sentinel pines.
— C.Birde
Let the leaves collect
at my feet
in their rustling,
scuttling
tumble.
May my skies froth
with rivers
of eddying,
harbinger
blackbirds.
Fill my cup with Autumn —
but allow
Spring to reside
in my heart;
Summer,
in my bones.
–C.Birde
The Four Sisters twine limbs
against the elemental sky
and weave roots
to part Earth
with slow and steady certainty.
They hold the memory of years,
of an age,
in their woody flesh,
girdled within their torsos
in concentric rings.
They do not complain,
nor pass judgment,
nor beg favor
as I pass between their knees,
beneath their shadow lattice.
Yet always,
they return my greeting in
their rustling,
multi-leafed chorus.
–C.Birde
I walked, this morning, with Autumn,
Her chill hand in mine,
Her breath cool on my cheek.
She wore as mantle the muted blue sky
flocked with dove-gray cloud.
We marked our steps in asters,
goldenrod, and foamy white snakeroot.
“Fret not,” she said,
“over Winter’s approach.”
Her voice rustled in sunset hues.
“Heed the crickets’ chant —
“still time still time still time.
“Harvest the cooling air.
“Gather the stretched-long rays
“of enduring sun,
“And abide.”
In downward drift around us,
the cider leaves collected,
And all the forest
breathed.
— C.Birde
Chipmunks share
the morning’s news in
ringing, staccato notes;
And Jays fall
from trees in
blue-blazed truth,
hunting among acorn-hued leaves
for those derbied nuts.
The Electron finds a
white-laced length of shed
snake skin,
too delicate to lift
with slender twig.
The light is diffuse, gentle.
The air is cool and sweet.
Absorb this
’til it imbues thought
and act
and gesture.
Carry it out and into
the World beyond these
wooded doors.
— C.Birde
“Autumn Tourne”, C.Birde Oct. 2015
Top of the North Bubble…
Swallowing Stone…
Leaning over Eagle Lake…
Looking back…
Roots hug Earth.
September 2015
Walking the Electron up Day Mountain —
four nimble feet landing in six places at once,
while we, behind,
mere bipeds,
plod by comparison,
one foot after the other set
upon the soil with intention.
Pause near the summit —
cool air, warming sun;
lunch on the rough slope of pink granite
that spills gently off
amidst uplifted pine boughs.
Huge blue water in the distance,
deep and sparkling, scattering light.
On our feet again —
the Electron recharged, re-energized,
pulling us along in her wake,
in six directions at once.
–C.Birde
