Cracked Shell

On the paved path
under the glossy bay
tree, newly fallen from a nest,
the jagged crack
of half a freckled sky blue eggshell
tears a hole in the day
like a spring morning
chorus of anxious mother
birds, beaks open
in raucous warning.

Kim M. Russell, 2018

Image result for speckled blue eggshell
Blackbird egg shell (Photo: Arterra Picture Library/Alamy) – image found on woodlandtrust.org,uk

My poem for the dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille – Egg

I’m hosting the last Quadrille before Easter, which is why I have chosen the word ‘egg’ to be transformed into 44 poetic words.

74 thoughts on “Cracked Shell”

  2. What an image of symbolic transformation, that cracked eggshell. I like to be hopeful and look at it as renewed life and promise, though as you remind us and as the mothers know, not every new hatchling will be guaranteed that promise.

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    1. That’s sadly true, Amaya. One of my cats sometimes catches birds and it makes me cry, although I understand it’s nature doing her thing. Still love my cat 🙂

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  6. This is such a powerful poem, Kim!💖 I like the image of tearing a hole in the day and am reminded of nature’s continous warnings to mankind. Beautifully executed.💖

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  21. Wonderfully woven poem – fav line – “tears a hole in the day” – yes, there are days like that. Last spring some robins made a nest near my deck. I went outside one day and saw a cracked egg, it was so sad and I wondered what happened.

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  24. I love the line “tears a hole in the sky” . So sad that not all mums see their child grow and fly. It always made me sad when my cats would get a bird. Or too see the cracked egg on the ground with the partially formed dead bird.

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  25. kaykuala

    chorus of anxious mother
    birds, beaks open
    in raucous warning.

    A mother’s concern is very apparent – it’s a natural thing!

    Hank

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  27. Love the photo….love the words…especially “raucous warning.”
    It’s interesting how we humanize animals sometimes. Years ago when I was still on the job, in a highrise office with large windows that looked out on another building that had deep window sills….a peregrine hawk would make her nest every year and we would gawk from our windows watching the two….watch the eggs hatch, watch them leave the nest and return with food. We enjoyed watching the little ones grow…watching them take care of the little ones. Then one day, we noticed a dead one on another ledge. Looked like it had “toddled” off, perhaps tried to fly and return to the nest and flown into the glass window and died. We were all so sad and then we saw one of the adults, either the mother or the male, fly over and begin to peck at and eat the dead baby. That was it for me. I closed my blinds that day. Survival. They are animals. A hard reminder. hmmmm as a child I never liked to watch cowboy and Indian movies becasue in those battle, chase scenes, many of the horses would rear up and fall down and I imagined the actors pulling on the reins, hurting the horses. So when I see a cracked egg outside the nest….”chorus of anxious mother” —- that’s what I though with the hawk….
    Oh my…all these memories you’ve pulled from me this morning from just 44 words!

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    1. That’s the potency of poetry, Lill! I was the same when it came to westerns – I hated what happened to the horses. But my favourite western as an adult, which was both shocking and beautiful, perhaps not a true western, was Soldier Blue. I loved the song by Buffy Saint Marie.

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  28. I really like the sound of…” half a freckled sky blue eggshell”. This is a sad but realistic glimpse of nature, with its share of joys and disappointments. Loved your word choice for the prompt, Kim!

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