The field sparrow is back—
that rising trill spilling
from a small, pink beak.
A yellow-bellied sapsucker
taps a ring of wells all around
the bole of a hickory.
You nap on the porch,
ears open to the creek and other
migrant tongues.
Dave Bonta (bio) often suffers from imposter syndrome, but not in a bad way — more like some kind of flower-breathing dragon, pot-bellied and igneous. Be that as it may, all of his writing here is available for reuse and creative remix under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For attribution in printed material, his name (Dave Bonta) will suffice, but for web use, please link back to the original. Contact him for permission to waive the “share alike” provision (e.g. for use in a conventionally copyrighted work).
I like how the 3rd tercet takes things to a new place… opening things up in surprising ways. It reminds me of some haiku in which the 3rd line turns everything. I’m probably not making much sense here, so I’ll just say again how much I really like this series.
Thanks, James. I think you’ve hit on one formula for success in this form, which I’ll keep in mind when I go back and revise them.