Hi, Poetry Friday friends! This is my first time on PF since June, but it's also my third year doing Birdtober. At a busy time of the year, adding a little creativity to each day counterintuitively makes things more manageable, and not less so. Below you can find links to my first five days of posts, plus today's bird.
Today's bird is an Albatross. I picked the Wandering Albatross to write about; there are at least fifteen species of albatross.
Source: eBird
Wandering Albatross:
Diomedea exulans.
Diomedea from Ovid’s tale
of Diomedes’ friends being turned into birds
because they angered Aphrodite,
a most foolish thing to do.
Exulans for exile.
And indeed,
the Wandering Albatross
is a wanderer,
like Diomedes who went back and forth to fight in wars
and drove a chariot with wild abandon,
like his friends who fluttered about at Aphrodite’s will.
The Wandering Albatross
spends most of its time flying,
only landing briefly to eat and produce offspring,
necessities of life even for wanderers.
It can fly 75,000 miles in a year.
But the Wandering Albatross seems happy with not settling down.
It mates for life,
can live for more than 50 high-flying years,
was called a “bird of good omen” by Coleridge.
It loves to eat,
makes loud joyful noises,
sleeps in flight
and dreams soaring feathery dreams.
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
Our host this week is prolific children's author Matt Forrest-Esenwine. Be sure to visit his roundup to find links to all the participants in today's Poetry Friday festivities.
9 comments:
Thank you for the insights into the Albatross! I had no idea that they had such long lives (and marriages!). I enjoyed how you made the link between the albatross to Greek mythology in your poem.
What a challenge, writing poems about 31 different birds! And the ones I've read, including this one, are well thought-out and beautifully worded, so it's obviously been quite a long project - whew, congratulations!
I wonder how Ol' Albie's wife feels about him flying all over creation all the time? I wonder if she goes with him? - lol
Thanks for this fun, info poem!
It's nice to see you here, Ruth, and telling us stories as you have in the past. I love reading more about this amazing bird, now wonder at its evolution, why the need to keep flying? I have seen one flying, years ago, and it was an awesome sight. Your poem sets its mood, a story to admire
Wow! I didn't know the albatross harbored such interesting facts. What an interesting challenge you've undertaken, and sure to learn a lot.
Wonderful poem Ruth I love how you wove all the facts into a tale-like-poem, and what an amazing bird, it even sleeps during flight, I'm impressed. All the best with your birdtober flights, thanks!
Life is better with a poem from Ruth...especially if it's about birds in October...and there's a touch of Greek involved. So good to see you on Poetry Friday. And, happy Birdtober to you!
I learned so much from your poem! Beautifully done!
Ruth, it is good to see you back here. I'm always impressed that you learn about and write about so many birds in October. What a long life of the Wandering Albatross and its partner. So interesting!
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