Bird Feeder
You’re so proud of yourself,
trudging out in all weather
hauling sacks, scooping seeds,
fastly passioned to our bellies;
yet banshee-chasing squirrels,
who, also famished, draw near
to sup. We, more worthy when,
despite being adoring parents,
remain steadfastly willful ostriches
when our wobble-headed offspring
with dark-pennied, yet-to-be-eyes
peck until death their siblings?
We, with our sharp-horned beaks
and prehistoric reptilian feet,
twitter at your ignorant folly. You,
mesmerized by our kaleidoscopic
rainbow flutterings & mating songs,
cultivate your just-missed deaths.
If we were just a little larger,
just a little stronger, and had
retained our sixty-six million
year old saws and claws, we'd
be stripping your bones, guzzling
flesh, deaf to your screams.
As someone who has been feeding birds and banshee-chasing squirrels for forty years or more, it’s something very familiar to me. Dora, thank you for the prompt and getting me to look at the familiar and reimagine it some way.
Dora is today’s host of dVerse’ Poetics. Dora says:
What I’d like us to do in our poetry is to take something familiar and reimagine it in some way.
Tao Talk 
Wow, this is very dystopian, Lisa
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Thanks, Robbie!
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I can hear the little birds speaking of their dinosaur heritage.
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Bjorn, I’m glad you heard them.
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A powerfully-penned poem, Li. Definitely not an idyllic pastoral, where nature is innocence and peace, not arrogant and rapacious as the birds’ “sixty-six million year old” predecessors, and the communal “we” lets us have it. Ironically, I think it makes us ask in turn, are we communally more “nature tooth and claw” than not? You’ve taught me to eye the bird-feeder a little less romantically now, Li.
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Dora, your feedback is much appreciated. As to your question, time will tell…
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I’m sure they feel the call of their ancestors, too–just in a language that is beyond our understanding. (K)
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Yep. And in a bit of synchronicity I read a review on the latest Jurassic Park installment after posting the poem today.
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I like when that happens.
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I’ve just been reading about how birds are the last living dinosaurs in a lot of ways. Great poem and I love the imagery.
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Thanks much, Max. Yes, they are!
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A wonderful and unique take Li
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Thanks very much <3
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You’re most welcome
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Delightfully written…dystopean dinosaur indeed! You got the theme given just right, and created suspense so nicely.
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Ain, it took me a little to figure out which familiar thing to reimagine but once I found it… Looking out of the window right now, I see a bare apple tree full of blood red cardinals. Yipes!
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Ooh, good one, Li!
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Thanks, Chris! :)
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I like how the poem makes us rethink our patronage of birds from the higher animal perspective
“scooping seeds,
fastly passioned to our bellies;” a brilliant line
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Laura, thank you for your view and your kind words.
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I just love how you have reimagined here, Li.❤️ Nature is not all honey and roses and sweetly twittering birds. We often see what we want to and miss what it is.
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Punam, I’m glad you acknowledge it also. The poem was catharsis in writing and I appreciate Dora’s prompt for making it possible.
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Yes, I could feel it was cathartic for you. Dora gave us an opportunity to relook at things with new eyes.
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<3
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Dark and yummy!
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Thanks, Nolcha. I’ve always thought the same thing about insects. Good thing they are very small.
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🤣🤣🤣
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Lions and tigers and bears… Lizzard birds, Oh my!
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:)
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Well, that ending just makes me want to clutch my pearls. See if I feed them again! Lol! Great poem, Lisa!
Yvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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haha! Love your comment, Yvette. Thanks <3
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Wow– that’s some bird. :-O
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I wouldn’t want to meet it in a dark alley, or anywhere else!
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HA !!!!!!!!! I agree. :-D
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:)
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Yikes… I would give that bird a wide berth if I ever saw it!
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Just remember, never set the time machine back 66 million years and you’ll be fine.
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Ha! Okay, I should be fine then…
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I often reflect on how dinosaurs have been brought low (though flying high) and whether a reptilian subconscious whispers in the brains of chickens “Once we were warriors – we ruled the Earth…” Epic Li!
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Andrew thanks for the great comment :)
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A unique reimagining, Lisa!
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Thank you, Sara.
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