David Chorlton- Two Poems & Photo

Rare Bird Alert

 

The evening drive along twisting curves

all the way up to the saddle

and down past fire blackened trunks

that absorb the waning light

leads to the spot the bird was last seen.

 

First one this far north. A tease

to anyone watching. Maybe sitting

on a nest in the bank

behind layers of green. An hour,

nearly two and still

no sign. Only the sound

 

wild turkeys make when they wrestle

the air to reach a high roost,

and away in the darkening pines

 

a hermit thrush singing the day to its end.

 

 

 

Two Ravens

 

The raven on a telegraph pole

turns his head with the wind

that tickles a ruff

from his sky polished neck.

 

*

 

A hawk slips between the pecan trees

at the grove's edge

where a raven in pursuit

has it splayed against the light.

 

 

 

David Chorlton is a transplanted European, who has lived in Phoenix since 1978. His poems have appeared in many publications on- and off-line, and reflect his affection for the natural world, as well as occasional bewilderment at aspects of human behavior. His most recent book, A Field Guide to Fire, was his contribution to the Fires of Change exhibition shown in Flagstaff and Tucson in Arizona.