Poem of the Month

A new poem will be placed here each month, usually from one of my published collections.

My poem for February 2019 is an animal poem not included in my recently re-issued Of Earth, Water, Air and Fire: animal poems (Melos 2013; 2019)

 

NUTHATCH

I am the nuthatch, rat-a-tat-tat
Up in the ash tree, listen-to-that.

Blue is my back or could it be grey?
Who but a twitcher could truly say?

Picking in the crevice for an insect or two;
walking in a zig-zag far above you.

High in the treetop, rat-a-tat-tat,
beak like a gimlet, get-a-bit-of-that.

Nuts are my weakness, hazel or beech,
acorns as a side-dish, or a bit of each.

On a day of sunshine up in my tree,
echo of my rat-a-tat, one-two-three.

Other birds will give you lots of pretty song,
I’m the muse of rat-a-tat: better get along!