Friday, April 10, 2015

Poem #9 for Poetry Month-Cornish Fourteenth Century Stanza



The rains have returned but I have a cheerful 14th century Cornish poem to offer today. It is a reworking of a journal entry, a typical free-form first draft collection of images. 

We spent a wonderful but far too brief time on a tiny island in Mexico this past winter. I am an avid amateur birdwatcher, Canada’s second most popular hobby after gardening, another passion. My binoculars and Golden Guide to Field Identification of Birds of North America go with me wherever I go, to work at another lightstation or to holiday in or near North America.

The Cornish Fourteenth Century Stanza has four to nine syllables in each line and a rhyme scheme of A A B C C B. The photo is of our vocal friend, the great-tailed grackle.

Isla Mujeres Morning

For Jeff

Our polyglot alarm clock

Precedes the flashy courtyard cock.

The great-tailed grackle stops and starts

Trills, descants, two-toned chirps

He shrieks on-key then gently, burps.
Your songs called "breaking sticks", dear hearts!


More gently coos the turtledove

Woos us from our dreams, my love,

Tugs us outside to the new day

To watch tiny scholars speeding down

Cobbled streets in this old town.

We sip good coffee, wish we could stay...

No comments:

Post a Comment