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

Ready to Fly

Sunday, 28 June, 2009

These are last year's baby robins just before they left the nest on our front porch. We saw them fly, one by one. Four of them were crammed in this nest and then one day the parents sat in a nearby tree calling to them and off they went. We watched, astounded at this 'normal' miracle.

Robins (the same?) built a nest in the same place this spring, laid eggs, and the mother sat on them. One morning, though, we found the nest on the porch floor, the eggs crushed. We can't figure out what could have knocked them down, as this lamp is about six feet high, with no place for an animal to climb nearby. Bats, maybe?