So this week's Poetry Bus task was set by the Weaver of Grass and was a straightforward one (write about flora or fauna). I went for some nature quite close to home.
A pair of
Suburban wood pigeons
More garden than wood
More fat than flustered
More lazy than me
They get up late (for birds)
Build a half-arsed nest
Ignore the flitting
Of blackbirds and starlings
There's plenty to eat
No need for inner city squabbling
They get plump and so comfy
Doze long days in the sun
RF 2010
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26 comments:
I think they have relatives in our garden! I like this wry look at these sky-rats (not fond of birds, pigeons especially, for some reason).
Oh Argent...I have a long and sorry history with pigeons (the image I chose for the post is a hint!). The two in our garden are softening my loathing and disgust though...well, a bit.
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Oh, I forgot terror.
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Rachel, I love the concise quality of this one! The photo of The Birds reminds me of an encounter I once had with a mocking bird during nesting season...Yikes!
Apart from the fact that you name the birds at the start this really reminds me of an Anglo-Saxon riddle. I love those riddles.
Just returned from Sicily where thousand-strong flocks of half-starved pigeons were raiding the fields... Think those plump woodies have an easy life here in the UK!
Like the poem.
PS There's something Larkin-esque about the Starling-nest 1st 2 lines of your 2nd verse, isn't there?
Just scanned your latest posts - been away from Blogworld these past few weeks - and I'd just like to say how sorry I am to hear about your mum's death. Having lost my own parents over recent few years, I kind of know a little of what you are going through - as much as anyone can presume to know such things.
oh this really made me laugh, perfect! half arsed nest, hilarious!
how lovely, they just do don't they:-)
thanks for sharing
cfm
I'm doing well - a concise, Larkinesque Anglo-Saxon riddle!
I've observed our pair of pigeons quite a lot this year - partly because I've been at home more I suppose...doing a lot of sitting around and waiting for one thing or another (me, not them). I laughed one morning when I was awake for all the dawn chorus...and then heard the pigeons...several hours later! Also I watched one of the pigeons attempt to negotiate a stick back home to its nest not long back. My kind of birdwatching...and good therapy for someone who's hated pigeons a lot over the years. I've never minded small birds but anything pigeon-sized or bigger has given me endless bother in the past. She should see me run from peacocks!
Thanks for your message SW. It's been a tough couple of months...intense, hard work, emotional...particularly intense of course because she lived here with us. We miss her a lot.
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You can tell I'm tired - there's a 'she' up there that should be a 'you'.
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Why is it that most birds have some facet of beauty and yet pigeons make everyone think of disease and pestilence? :)
Nicely done...that poster brought back some childhood memories. I watched it on late night tv [wasn't suppose to] and I looked at birds funny for a week.
I can make a pigeon coo by blowing through my hands!
Hmn...syntax error....
Very refreshing to read "half arsed nest" of a pigeon parallel poem.
We don't have pigeons living in our yard, but goodness at the fat doves! And they aren't afraid of anything - giving you the evil eye if you venture into their territory.
Wow! This is a a concise, Larkinesque Anglo-Saxon riddle of a poem.
Loved it. Especially the "(for birds)".
And a fabulous poster to illustrate just how keen Hitchcock could be about our deepest, irrational fears.
This is a really fun Bus so far!
I love this it's cheeky, impish, the half arsed nest says it all for me. We have plenty of pigeons like this near where I live -fat and foot deformed! There is somethng very intriguing, about your work it is riddle like making you want to dg a little deeper
Some pigeons have gone urban to such an extent that we have quite a different relationship with them now (seagulls the same in seaside places like this). They wander about the towns and cities - spooking us out (well, me anyway - I've had big bird phobia since primary school), eyeballing us and sneering 'you think this landscape is yours..well, it's not, it belongs to us.' (insert evil baddie laugh). That's one reason I wanted to write about these less threatening cousins.
Funnily enough I didn't find 'The Birds' scary at all - the feathered ones just didn't look real enough. If someone remade it with the effects they can do now it would probably be a different story though!
Gwei Mui - I like the idea of being intriguing. It makes a change from just bloody annoying. And I like impish even more!
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I'm with you in the dislike for pigeons, at least groups of, hordes of, lousy greedy mobs of, pigeons. Just one or two per square km they can be okay.
But, if there is so much for them to eat, just as well they're there to eat it, isn't it? Now we need something to eat them.
you're spot on with the lazy pigeon. I do love the woodpigeon coo though,
I like this Rachel, think I like the sound of their lifestyles alot... oh to be a wood pigeon
That's them exactly! They are lazy, aren't they? I LOVE the half-arsed nest line.
Kat
I've always drawn a line between town pigeons and wood pigeons - hate the former, quite like the latter. Delighted to see the latter are lazy and build half-arsed nests! Thought this was going to be about Alvin Stardust from the title...
Just the kind of gentle observation that I like Rachel. Quite right about the 'half-arsed' - two have built in our Scots Pines and their nest (two sticks across and a little bit of moss) is so flimsy that their eggs drop straight through and break in the grass.
Coo ee! Nice to see you back at it :)
Thanks all...we've had visitors for the past couple of days...no blogging time!
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