I wrote this cinquain sequence last spring while reveling in a newly returned Common Grackle gleeking its joyful ode to Spring. It got me to thinking about how in many places in the world climate change is causing the seasons and weather patterns to be disrupted, moving off natural growth timelines which migrating birds depend on for the regularity of food sources.
Their struggle is real and constant and largely not given much thought by humans. We, for the most part are funny like that---unless it affects us directly we are not very interested in thinking about upset and disruption in the natural world and our role in it all.
Well, unless you are a thoughtful researcher such as the author of this article on phenology and bird migration.
And all of this brought me to pondering the brilliant Rachel Carson's call to action on the effects of pollution on the natural world and her fears of a one day, silent spring.
This spring is silent for a different reason than Carson offered but her concerns of fifty plus years ago are unfortunately even more timely now. Perhaps, as our pace is slowed we could take some time to think about new ways of organizing our society when the pandemic settles down.
Common Grackle, Silent Spring
Cinquain Sequence
Springtime--
decrepit snow
gives itself to rivulets,
seeks out low ground, puddles, pools. Soon
greening
will sprout,
wild, urgent--A
living omnipresence
calling out your name, first whispers,
then roars.
Will you
listen, dive in?
If so, then go outside,
let the pungent scent of Spring rub
on you.
Be like
water--rushing--
but know that where you are
going you already are--Here!
Presence!
Listen!
The Grackle gleeks
atop the grey Poplar--
there--its song, a spring choral, swells
of life!
And yet,
sadness rises
that wants to quell the rush
I feel when birds return, miracles
they are.
Will they
always find their
way back to where they need
to be when they need to be there?
Is here
a some-
where synchronized
to anymore or any
longer? Can the beauty of the
Grackle's
song sing
long enough 'til
those who need to hear it,
hear it, and learn that it has things
to tell
us that
we need to hear
before the spring we know
might come, arrives-- beseechingly--
Silent.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Earth Day 2020!
Jill
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