Good Morning Friends,
As you all know, April is National Poetry month. This April I have delighted in joining Bonny, Kym, Kat and Sarah posting poems each Thursday. This week is the last Thursday of the month and we are all posting poems by Adrienne Rich. She is a new-to-me poet; someone I was not familiar with, but I have come to appreciate her poetry so much. I hope you enjoy the poems we have selected.
The Return of the Evening Grossbeaks
By Adrienne Rich
The birds about the house pretend to be
Penates of our domesticity.
And when the cardinal wants to play at prophet
We need tell his eminence to come off it.
The crows, too, in the dawn prognosticate
Like ministers at a funeral of state.
The pigeons in their surplices of white
Assemble for some careful Anglican rite.
Only these guests who rarely come our way
Dictate no oracles for us while they stay.
No matter what we try to make them mean
Their coming lends no answer to our scene.
We scatter seed and call them by their name,
Remembering what has changed since last they came.
I chose this poem because my Grandmother liked Evening Grossbeak's so much. I remember being with her and hoping they would show up. Their time in Vermont was so fleeting each year.
Have a good day - it's almost the weekend!!
I read quite a bit of Adrienne Rich's poetry this month, but didn't come across this one. I'm so glad you shared it! I love poems about the natural world, and Rich does that in an interesting way here. I also love poems that use new-to-me vocabulary, so "penates" is my word of the day. I've never seen an evening grosbeak, but I'm very glad to have read this poem about them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful poem, Vera! Like Bonny, I don't remember coming across this particular selection -- so it's a real treat to read it here this morning. Thanks for sharing poetry this month. XO
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this one before and now I'm so glad I have. I've been acutely aware of the birds since Ruthie came to live with us and we've been out early in the morning, greeted by the dawn chorus. I will be thinking of this poem tomorrow morning for sure -- thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteThis is the prefect poem for right now... as the cardinals are all gathering for the Pope's funeral. I am reading a new book by Lili Taylor on her "birding" and she has a chapter on cardinals! I think she must have read this poem... because her writing reminds me of this poem. Thank you so much for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteVery good imagery! A fun poem.
ReplyDeleteI just saw photos of black vultures staging a funereal for a lost flock member and it gave me the willies to see them performing rituals that we only think humans are capable of. I saw a bit of the live stream of the pope laying in state late last night and thought how similar it was to those birds.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun poem. I love the line about tell the cardinal to "come off it." I read some essays by Adrienne Rich that I enjoyed. In particular she wrote one about Emily Dickinson that is very thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen this bird in my yard, I would love to! I loved the poem!
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