I live by a river

The river wraps around trees,
some fallen, some weeping,
plays over branches,
and twigs, scattering light.

Yesterday was full of birds
swooping, diving, chattering,
among young leaves;
a robin blustered in the cherry,

parrying the two-note call
of a pheasant strutting among
daffodils, eager for a mate
in these early days of rebirth.

Today, unseasonal snowflakes melt
as soon as they touch the silent earth.

Kim M. Russell, 5th April 2021

My response to earthweal weekly challenge: The Teeming

For this week’s challenge. Brendan asks us to write poems that introduce the reader to the environment we live in – a landscape shaped by time with a culturally diverse ecosystem (with human, animal and non-animal elements). He asks us to widen the focus, deepen the gaze and green the voice.

25 thoughts on “I live by a river”

  4. Thanks for the intro-tour, KR. We’re (finally!) seeing some ground here, and, hopefully, the snow we had on Friday will be the last, having so little of itself left to cling to. . Your fine work here prompts me to get back to work on Peacham Luillabye, a pieceIi started last winter about spotting “the winter’s final flake.’
    Have a great day!

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    1. It’s silent again this morning after a little snowfall: no birds singing, the daffodils look stunned, and all I can hear is my laptop buzzing. 🙂

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  10. Yes — this is alive and abundant with place, or the heart’s placing of itself with keen eye and ear. A spring moment rivering eternal. How alive it and thus you become. It teems! – Brendan

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  12. “parrying the two-note call
    of a pheasant strutting among
    daffodils, eager for a mate
    in these early days of rebirth.”
    Love these lines, Kim and those ‘swooping, diving, chattering” birds!
    JIM

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