A Congress of Birds--Revised

A Congress of Birds

(Heard on my morning walk) 

The birds are assembled in their

Various trees at the edge

Of the forest.

They’re screeing and squawking,

Whistling and talking bird talk,

Calling challenges, claiming territory,

Bragging, bullying, signifying,

Singing for love and for sex.

The blue jay shouts “me, me”

And tries to make it come out “We, we.”

He doesn’t fool anyone,

So has to keep changing his tune.

The cardinals are singing sweetly,

Playing out their role as state bird.

They’re promising a rosy future,

But the other birds see only red.

The crows are promoting a blackbird caucus,

Crowing “Cause, cause,”

But they chase away the magpies,

Who flash white when they fly.

A circling hawk scream, “F-e-a-r, f-e-a-r, f-e-a-r,”

Stretching each syllable for emphasis.

He’s in a good position to promise, and

Of a disposition to impose his threat.

One solicitous songster offers brightly

“With you, with you, with you,”

But it’s not clear if she stands behind us,

Or wants to do something with us.

Then there’s “Cheater, cheater, cheater.”

And it’s moot whether this accusatory avian

Is calling out her fellow flyers

Or tooting her own horn.

Another bird (Chicken Little?) warns,

“Get ready, get ready, get ready.”

Heeding the warning, I cast a wary eye

For a whitewashing of the truth.

One crier announces over and over

“To eat, to eat, to eat, to eat, to eat,”

Reminding the others they

Survive on conspicuous consumption.

The phoebe uses its name to sublimate

It’s promise of regifted “freebies, freebies,

Concealing that for most of us

There never will be a free lunch.

Mockingbirds mimic their peers,

Don’t have a song of their own.

Their florid fakery’s a facade,

To cover their absence of substance.

Another, unabashedly is

“Chip, chip, chip”ing away.

At what isn’t clear, but

This bird is determined.

In the field, the “bob white”

Is quailing: “‘Bout right, ‘bout right.”

Very accommodating, he

Always goes along with his peers.

My favorite is the obviousbird

Calling, “Birdy, birdy, birdy.”

Stating what everyone already knows

As if it were a revelation.

Meanwhile, the plaintive pee wee points

To something almost equally obvious

That critters with the brain of a bird

Can’t help but have small minds as well.

The most insistent of all is the hawkster

Promoting the “Video, video, video”

Over and over, as if seeing the source

Will make the message any more true.