The Bird Table- a little tale of ruffled feathers

 

First light post dawn

a strike in the offing

My shoulder wing-shadowed

as I stock up supplies

Twigs crackle in hedgerow

Battalions line up on roof top

My retreat signals advance from both sides

Burst of crow from undergrowth

Blaze of pigeon from sky

rump to rump

wing to wing

feathers fly

Feral pigeons floor rival and comrade alike

In their surge for possession

supplies scatter to ground

where the wily and usurped

 take advantage

Meanwhile Kit, outnumbered

and outmanoeuvred

saves his reserves

 for another day.

Copyright 2025 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved

Writer's Block

An exercise I heard from a YouTube video to exorcise Writer's block.

Make a list of all the things you did yesterday starting backwards and see if you can develop a poem from one or two items on your list....

Well, my effort didn't exactly follow the plan but here goes....

It was an okay sort of day.

Going to the charity shops

and finding nothing.

Flicking through Netflix

and seeing nothing.

Getting a takeaway that wasn't bad.

Wasn't good.

Cleaning windows with vinegar

and buffing with newspaper

and ending up with streaks anyway.

Buying cushion covers for a friend

and deciding to keep them.

Buying a book for a child

and deciding to keep it too!

Crying at the denouement

corny as it was.

Bird App spotting

a black capped chickadee-

unlikely in  European skies. 

Reading a poem aloud 

to an empty room.

Listening to Billy Collins

on the subject of poetic endings

which should always surprise

and wondering where this one is even going.....

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR POEM!!

Copyright 2025 Cathy Leonard