Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Slice of Life Tuesday: Birdtober Day Twenty-Six: Pheasant

 


Ring-necked Pheasant, from eBird.com

 
 
Pheasant


It was late in the morning
on July 7th
along I-90 West
in Aurora County,
South Dakota,
that I saw
my first
Ring-necked Pheasant.
I’d seen them in paintings before
and on plates
and in fall scenes in books,
looking picturesque,
but in the first week of July,
there one was
in real life.
Beside the interstate,
there was the state bird of
South Dakota:
covered in different patterns
as though its splendor
came from a thrift shop,
likely destined to be 
shot 
and eaten 
this fall,
possibly squawking,
but I couldn’t say,
because we kept on driving,
kept on driving
away from
my first
ordinary,
spectacular,
glorious
Ring-necked Pheasant.


©Ruth Bowen Hersey

4 comments:

Betsy Hubbard said...

Glorious indeed. Love all the descriptive language you used. I'd love to see one of these someday.

Britt Decker said...

What beautifully composed descriptive language!

Ramona said...

"...ordinary, spectacular, glorious..." poem. Thanks for letting us ride along for this discovery!

Carol Varsalona said...

as though its splendor
came from a thrift shop
What an interesting thought, Ruth!
Thanks for another descriptive poem.
Happy Birding!