The POEMS

Under each bird name, the poems are arranged chronologically; first lines are also given below each poem title, as a potentially helpful spur to the memory. For untitled poems, the first line only is given instead (and identified as such via enclosing quotation marks). I would eventually like to gloss/annotate all of the texts herein--to make it a true "anthology"--but for now I've merely added comments immediately after a few of the entries, in parentheses, as they occurred to me. NOTE: These poetry texts are provided only "for purposes such as criticism, comment . . . teaching, scholarship, or research."

Oops--Let's try that BIRD Species/Type INDEX. . . .

NEW (5/08): I've divided this "POEMS" section into EIGHT separate pages, for quicker loading. . . .

A-C     D-G     H-L     M-O     P-R     S-T     U-Z     Misc.

MAGPIE, EUROPEAN

"AND YONDER BY THE CIRCLING STACK" --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)

MAGPIES IN PICARDY --T. P. Cameron Wilson (Gr. Brit.)
      "The magpies in Picardy"
 

MARTIN, SAND

SAND MARTIN --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)
      "Thou hermit hunter of the lonely glen"
 

MEADOWLARK, WESTERN

MEADOWLARK COUNTRY --Amy Clampitt (U.S.)
      "Speaking of the skylark in a New England classroom—"

MEADOWLARK --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "Golden-brown breast-feather"

STURNELLA NEGLECTA (WESTERN MEADOWLARK) --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "ah, to be a meadowlark again"

MEADOWLARK --David Wagoner (U.S.)
      "You may be walking on the edge of a road,"

TRYING TO FALL ASLEEP IN SOUTH DAKOTA --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "when i close my eyes i see"
 

MERLIN

PIGEON HAWK --Polly Brown (U.S.)
      "While we packed, a pigeon hawk"
 

MOCKINGBIRD, NORTHERN

OUT OF THE CRADLE ENDLESSLY ROCKING --Walt Whitman (U.S.)
      "Out of the cradle endlessly rocking"

REALITY II --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "hey, was that a robin"

THE GIFT --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "I wanted to thank the mockingbird for the vigor of his song."

MOCKINGBIRD --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "The Mockingbird / precarious"

CAT'S CLIMB --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "After the cat's climb"
 

NIGHTHAWK, COMMON

from SPRING IN NEW-ENGLAND --Carlos Wilcox (U.S.)
      "Each day are heard, and almost every hour,"
        (--portraits of a snipe and two goatsuckers: nighthawk and Whip-poor-will)

THE NIGHT-HAWK --Charles G. D. Roberts (Canada)
      "WHEN frogs make merry the pools of May,"
 

NIGHTINGALE, COMMON

"YOU SPOTTED SNAKES WITH DOUBLE TONGUE" --William Shakespeare (Gr. Brit.)

SONNET I --John Milton (Gr. Brit.)
      "O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray"

THE NIGHTINGALE --Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Gr. Brit.)
      "No cloud, no relique of the sunken day"
        (--This poem includes the great line, "In Nature there is nothing melancholy.")

"O NIGHTINGALE! THOU SURELY ART" --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)

ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE --John Keats (Gr. Brit.)
      "My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains"
        (--the epitome of bird as projection of the poet's own preoccupations)

PHILOMELA --Matthew Arnold (Gr. Brit.)
      "Hark! ah, the Nightingale!"

from MEMBERS OF THE TRIBE --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      ". . . In the back fields,"
        (--a brief tribute to John Keats, and his nightingale)
 

NUTCRACKER, CLARK'S

TWO BIRDS MEET LEWIS & CLARK (1805-1806) --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "They call me Lewis's Woodpecker."
 

NUTHATCH        [pictured: White-breasted Nuthatch (photo: TCG); ditto, audio]

NUTHATCH --Michael R. Collings (U.S.)
      "I had thought the Nuthatch alien, exotic"
 

NUTHATCH, EURASIAN

"IN SUMMER SHOWERS A SKREEKING NOISE IS HEARD" --John Clare (Gr. Brit.)
 

ORIOLE, BALTIMORE

"ONE OF THE ONES THAT MIDAS TOUCHED" --Emily Dickinson (U.S.)
 

OVENBIRD

THE OVEN BIRD --Robert Frost (U.S.)
      "There is a singer everyone has heard"
 

OWL        [pictured: Tawny Owl; ditto, audio]

"WHEN ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL" --William Shakespeare (Gr. Brit.)

THERE WAS A BOY --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs"

from THE WAGGONER --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      ". . . 'Yon screech-owl,' says the Sailor, turning"

EVENING VOLUNTARIES VII --William Wordsworth (Gr. Brit.)
      "The leaves that rustled on this oak-crowned hill,"

THE OWLS --Charles Baudelaire (France)
      "Within the shelter of black yews"

THE OWL --Edward Thomas (Gr. Brit.)
      "Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved"

QUESTIONING FACES --Robert Frost (U.S.)
      "The winter owl banked just in time to pass"

IN THE PINE WOODS, CROW AND OWL --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "Great bumble. Sleek"

NATURE --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "All night"
 

OWL, BARN

BARN OWL --Gwen Harwood (Australia)
      "Daybreak: the household slept."
        (--I cried again just proofreading it!)

PRAISE --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "Knee-deep"

WHITE OWL FLIES INTO AND OUT OF THE FIELD --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "Coming down"
 

OWL, EASTERN SCREECH-

LITTLE OWL WHO LIVES IN THE ORCHARD --Mary Oliver (U.S.)
      "His beak could open a bottle,"
 

OWL, GREAT HORNED

SPIRIT HOME --Lynn Samsel (U.S.)
      "In the dream a Great Horned Owl"

GREAT HORNED OWLS --Tom Gannon (U.S. [Native American])
      "Whose woods these are, I'm sure I know—"
 

OWL, SNOWY

SNOWY OWL NEAR OCEAN SHORES --Duane Niatum (U.S. [Native American])
      "sits on a stump in an abandoned farmer's field,"

SPIRIT HOME --Lynn Samsel (U.S.)
      "In the dream a Great Horned Owl"
 

A-C     D-G     H-L     M-O     P-R     S-T     U-Z     Misc.

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-=TO THE SPECIES INDEX

-=EXIT to COVER PAGE/CREDITS

-=NETIZEN NOTES (info on poem authors)