Thursday, May 3, 2012

Nesting: Birds and Writers

Every year the robins scope out our porch
seeking shelter for their nest
and every year 
they slop twigs and straw and leaves
every which way


and usually the mess-nest 
falls
three or four or five times
but they pick all the mess back up
and slop it up against the pillar
which isn't nearly wide enough
for a secure nest


but they are stubborn
and keep at it
and slop some mud in it
to cement it to the
white pillar


and you know I'm going to
compare
this to writing a book, right?

. . .the way I toss this and that 
onto the page
hoping it sticks
and sometimes it doesn't
and it makes a mess
but I am stubborn
and I keep at it

cementing those words
to the
white page.

ciao, bellas . . .
xx

10 comments:

  1. Pure determination. . . but oh the the end result.

    Re nest: practice makes perfect

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  2. Sharon, our little Robin! :o)

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  3. Yes, we knew the comparison was coming. :) I know I'm sure to get a sweet spoonful of inspiration and encouragement every time I click onto your blog. Thanks!

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  4. Beautiful determination ....from which we readers benefit. Thank you. :)

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  5. Of course I love this comparison, Sharon! What I really love, though, is the word "mess-nest". We have had several of those on our porch.

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  6. Thanks, Sharon. I'm gonna appreciate the robin's mess outside a little more. And of course this goes far beyond writing. Life itself is a MESS! Ha!! One mess after another, etc., and we just keep going. I think the writer Albert Camus described this as the heroic-heroic part of being human. Something about Sisyphus. Ha! Existentialism from a robin. Oh dear.

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  7. We have robins that like to build right above the kids' sandbox. This year we took it down before they laid eggs because the dive bomb the kids.

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  8. It's a rite of spring... robins returning to Creechistrano!

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  9. I love the idea of slopping words on the page. That's certainly how it feels when writing a book. Some messes are bigger than others though.

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