today’s excitement –
very early morning
erratic drumming
more a thudding
slow with pauses
could it be? I’d heard
them in the woods but
never seen one yet here
one was – a piliated
woodpecker on the
dead tree by the porch
clear in silhouette
long sharp beak, crested
head, supple neck, body
big as a hen but slim
it circled the trunk
hammering breakfast
no rat-a-tat drilling like
smaller woodpeckers
it tore chunks off the
wood the lake beneath
soon strewn with large
irregular chips I swam
to gather one from the
water after it flew away
gillian on the porch actually
saw it arrive a flurry of
feathers saw it settle upright
on the trunk begin to work:
this can last a heart quite a while
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2014.
