After weeks
of solitary thumb-sized scouts, the island is now buzzing with hummingbirds. Hummingbirds, mostly rufous, sometimes Anna’s,
are so speedy that when our vast swaths of honeysuckle vines bloom, the
aggressive rufous dive-bomb each other and just barely miss us out working.
Sometimes they bonk themselves into our windows, which must be a terrible shock
to them but so far, as with this little fellow in the photo, they’ve flown off
after a dazed rest and we can only hope they’ve recovered successfully.
I’m using a
Japanese form, the dodoitsu, which is unrhymed, non-metrical, four lines and
with a syllable count of 7 7 7 5. It’s a merciful relief after trying to write a Greek paean with its dramatic emoting on every third syllable. I found myself feeling like a ham stage actor with an irritating vocal lunging tic so I bade farewell to the Greeks as they were just too much for my stiff and sore post-gardening self this morning. I raided my serene Japanese
poetry file for you today.
Rufous
Hummingbird Dodoitsu #1
Little fledgling on the ground
How came you there my pretty?
Feathers ruffled eyes half-mast?
Sugar water quick!
Hummingbird
War Dodoitsu #2
Four gram warriors zooming
Angry whirring winds resound
How many men do you know
Fight over flowers?
Oh, I really do love these two! I must try this form.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lea! I think you'll enjoy playing with the dodoitsu too. Unfussy yet capable of surprising the poet!
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