Poetry Month: April 19
A famous free verse poem for you and a poem from me
Here’s the poem “April” by William Carlos Williams:
April by William Carlos Williams — Famous poems, famous poets. — All Poetry
And here’s a free verse poem from me:
A Surprise at Supper
Last night a tiny bird
landed on my dinner plate,
mostly black with white wingtips and
a yellow beak, so maybe a baby myna bird.
It didn’t seem hurt or scared,
and called out strongly,
then flop-flew down to the chair seat
where it continued to call.
No other bird answered. I looked around
but didn’t see a nest I could return it to.
The wind was strong and a light rain began to fall.
There was an ozone smell as the air quickly cooled.
For 10 minutes I watched the little bird
as it repeated its one-note call,
and occasionally flapped its tiny wings.
It didn’t seem fully fledged.
I used to try to save
every little helpless thing,
but my conservationist parents
taught me about the laws of nature:
Not everything gets to live.
Even cute little animals are sometimes
food for other animals, and we have to
let nature take its course.
I don’t know what happened next:
Did it gain strength to fly toward a tree,
or did a giant rat find it first?
I don’t know … I walked away.
