I spent a dizzying, fun day at Disneyland with my almost five-year-old, who said of it all: “This is like one small busy world.” I had given him a little spending money, which he spent promptly on cotton candy. At the day’s end he saw a woman who painted faces and I could see his regret. He held on his palm his three remaining quarters and stared at her designs—spiders, patterns, things that sparkled and seemed to change. Nallely looked at my son’s hopeful face, his sweaty, pitiful quarters, and gave him the gift of a blue spider drawn below his right eye.
The Stranger: Nallely
The Word: Colibrí
The poem I wrote:
Did you retire today?
my son asks again,
wondering how
many wing-beats
I expend, what I do
when we’re apart,
and whether grown-up
hearts beat more
than his heart
before being born,
faster than
a hummingbird.
Listen, Colibrí.
Listen, small busy one.
I am with you,
even when I am working.
I will be with you always,
even if you fly.
The Challenge: Do you have a poem in you on this word? Write one here.
May 23, 2019 at 11:37 am
Why Do The Hummers Hum?
“Why do hummingbirds hum?”
Was asked of a small child,
“Because they don’t know the words.”
At that, the child smiled.
Why do the hummers hover?
There’s a reason to be found.
If they didn’t flap their wings
They’d be there on the ground.
Be as capricious as Colibrí,
Flit from here to there,
Be fanciful and whimsical.
Act, as if, without a care.
Hummingbirds are selfish.
Males like to fight
Defending nectared water.
Trespass and get the spike.
Hummers need their protein
So, attract some fruity flies
Set out something, a peeling
Of bananas will suffice.
Ruby-throated boy birds
Display their fine ascots
To attract the ladies
Who are wanting to get got.
In autumn, one can see them
As they ride the northern breezes
And resting, just passing through
To escape the Winter freezes.
Some fly across the Gulf
Heading to Mexico
Or some Caribbean Isle
Where there is no snow.
It’s a feat that is amazing.
They’ve very little fat.
But with a friendly tail wind
They’ll get pushed to where they’re at.
Why do the hummers hum?
Hmm. Funny you should ask.
Living up to their name
Is among their many tasks.
May 25, 2019 at 5:13 am
How to Learn
I heard the sounds,
shouts so far and dark away
they might have been thunder,
or mumbles of a sleepy god.
We swayed and jerked about,
balanced only by the strap
and our switching legs.
Ears full of screeching brakes,
Eyes shining back at neon sky.
Hissing doors opened to that thunder,
now pressing on us
lifting us, to say the sleepy god had woke.
Colibri, remember this…
Wrigley Field is a holy place.
When you get inside, you will learn
everything you need to know.
Forty thousand teachers are waiting.