Digital Paper: Up Before the Finches

Up Before the Finches

©Stephanie Williams, 2008

Three light in the tulip tree
Bodies blending
Gray buds pointed and upright.
Twigs bob under the twitchy watching,
Hopping to advantageous positions.
The swell of a downy throat on the top branch
Is alarum, challenge, rallying cry.
A mob in the branches of the willow across the yard,
Moves in the cover of buds.
Swarming the feeder outside the window
They are flies on meat.
Birds lift to fight midair
Scissor tails and barred wings battering,
Vying, edging in, pecking, upside down, sidewise
Eating, fighting for seed.
The gray bodies change by the day as spring rises.
Molting feathers float earthward in the battle
Revealing bright yellow at the throat.

©Karen Adams, 2008

Karen Adams is a seventh grade English and math teacher at Albany Middle School. She is grateful for the opportunity to spend each working day with children, and she appreciates being able to share her poetry with you.

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Digital Paper is dedicated
to Jim Gray, Founder of the Writing Project

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