Great Poets Write About Birds
If you want to know
To what heights you can go,
On the street, here’s the word —
You have to write about birds.
All of the greats do,
And you really should, too!
From Robert Frost’s little snow-kicking crow,
To Galway Kinnell’s Canada Warbler woes,
And the ever-famous Raven from Poe,
All of the greats describe birds, don’t you know?
If you don’t want your words
To get flushed with your turds,
It’s simple — ain’t you heard?
You’ve got to write about birds.
It will crowbar and bend
The heights you could ascend
On the back of its wings —
Oh, your praises they’ll sing!
Why don’t you pick a finch?
It’ll do, in a pinch;
Or better yet a stork?
Oh, I think that’ll work.
Use some couplets and rhyme;
Maintain meter and time;
Keep a sing-songy feel —
All the birds do, for real!
I am speaking a fact;
I’m not peddling trickery —
Take a look out back
At your oak or your hickory.
They won’t think you’re insane
(But they might call you bird-brained),
When you write about birds
With your poetic words.
