The Cedar


 Weekly Scribblings #63 

 

Under the cedar,

where the quince is in bloom,

lies the headless body

of the raptor. 


The owl feasted soundlessly in the limbs last night. 


©2021 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

A true story, other than the time of year I found the headless bird.  There was no blood.  It had been a huge raptor, with beautiful talons, but still no match for the owl.  Apparently, owls know heads are where the most nutritious brains are.   

 

Comments

  1. Five lines spoke volumes!! Great write ~~~~~

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I have these three large cedars (well, maybe not large like in forests, but large enough!), two incense and one deodar. The deodar's a beauty, but not native. I'm glad they were left standing when the house was built in 1962.

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  2. The juxtaposition of imagery is striking here. The predator certainly knew what it wanted.

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    Replies
    1. It did. I tend to look under that tree warily each morning, it's not the first time I've found a dead bird, although this was the first time a large headless one. It's a true event, so I don't mind it reminding me of Denise Levertov's A Day Begins. The squirrel in her poem sounds like a raccoon got it. I believe that poem was in a lesson on juxtaposition!


      "A headless squirrel, some blood
      oozing from the unevenly
      chewed-off neck

      lies in rainsweet grass
      near the woodshed door.
      Down the driveway

      the first irises
      have opened since dawn,
      ethereal, their mauve

      almost a transparent gray,
      their dark veins
      bruise-blue."

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  3. Gritty poem and I dig it Versesmith.

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  4. Hi Lisa -- This is cute. We have Hawks here, they eat little birds and rabbits.
    Thanks on the time of A to Z. I am starting to write a poem a day, today for sure is posted. I do have several oxen in my ditch, we will see about all that.
    ..

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    Replies
    1. This headless bird was a hawk or something similar, it had fearsome talons! For all the good they did...

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  5. Beautiful picture contrast and it fits the theme of your poem so well.

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