Wow, well how simple can this be……..Sammie is my current favorite bird……..but writing a poem about her? A haiku – those that know me well know that I love a good haiku. The haiku, which originated as a Japanese short form type of poetry, often represents the juxtaposition of two images and is most often about nature. In its strictest sense you have three lines – the first line with 5 syllables, the second line with 7 and then back to 5 for the third line. You do not have to follow that – but I am very strict when writing a haiku.
A one pound grey bird
Dropping the f-bomb on you
She is delicate
So – there. I wrote a poem. Thinking I may want to go further – I listened to a podcast called The Slowdown and then I read through some examples of poetry highlighting birds that the NaPoWriMo website gave us. These were poems by people like John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickenson………talk about intimidating. Good lord!
Anyway, thinking of all of this took me back to my first African Grey – his name was Wilbur……….and it brought me all the way forward to Sammie who is bored with me and currently napping.
FROM WILBUR TO SAMMIE
It started with parakeets
Dare I say a pet store disposable bird
It moved on to a newly hatched
And naked African Grey.
I named him Wilbur after the pig in Charlotte’s Web
And a TERRIFIC bird he was.
He cuddled and laid on his back in my hand
He could identify his snacks by name
He knew TV theme songs
And told himself jokes and laughed and laughed
He only liked women and was as bright
As an African Grey can be
His death was completely unexpected
Unnerving
Devastating
No longer there to ask me if I was going to work
To make money to buy his bird food
Silence
Until Sammie came along
Fully named Samantha Jane
And clearly with a mind of her own
She came preset with farts and burps
She’s become the alpha of our home
And the bright spot of every day
Thanks for reading - I hope I can actually accomplish this challenge!