Starlings and Stones

November starlings blacken hedges,
strip scarlet berries, dip in sedges,
weave through layers of stubble and thistle,
a whirring cloud of clockwork birds.
A sudden burst of warble and whistle
lodges like stone in my arid throat
and leaves me scrabbling for words.

Kim M. Russell, 2017

Image result for starlings flying out of a hedgerow
Image found on nationaltrust.org.uk

My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Get Listed: November Edition

Angie says that, a few years ago, she stumbled upon a gem of a book by Sandford Lyne: Writing Poetry from the Inside Out:  Finding Your Voice Through the Craft of Poetry, in which there is a poem sketching technique which she thinks gives wide enough girth for both birthing and growing poems.

For this Get Listed edition. Angie asks us to choose one of the word groups (using all 4 words) that she has listed, being mindful to choose the word list that fits the best with our mood/theme/personality of our unique poem on the topic of our choice in a brief creation of under 100 words.

I have chosen: November, layers, stone, throat

28 thoughts on “Starlings and Stones”

  1. the starling murmuration sounds like running water over stones – flows just like these luscious lines
    “dip in sedges,
    weave through layers of stubble and thistle,
    a whirring cloud of clockwork birds”

    -that last adjective is outstanding!

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  3. If i could whistle, i would for you. poets who can rhyme seamlessly always amaze me. I appreciate all the slick s’s and w’s in your sing-song poem of starlings and stones. Great choice of verbs throughout to really move your words, as if in a burst of air, just like the birds. bravo. Thanks for participating.

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    1. Thank you, Kerry! I love November and have been observing the movement of various birds. There is always something going on in the skies over North Norfolk, particularly around dusk.

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