Almost Found Poem:

Bird-Calls

Jonty Driver

The emerald-spotted wood dove cries:
“My father is dead
“My mother is dead
“My heart goes boom - boom - boom - boom - boom - boom - boom...”

The grey lourie advises everyone:
“Go away, go away”.

The horn-bills say merely:
“Go back, go back”.

The rock pigeon resonates:
“Who-who? Who-who?”

The laughing dove (well, are you surprised?) laughs -
Or is it chortles?

The pied kingfisher gets excited
And calls “Chik-chik, chik-chik.”

The crested barbet has a rattle in its throat.

You don’t hear much of the little bee-eater
As it dashes about.

The red-billed hoopoes cackle:
“Thlega bafazi, thlega bafazi”
(Which means, sorry to say, “a gaggle of women”).

The striped kingfisher greets the evening,
“Cheer-o, cheer-o”.

The yellow-throated longclaw insists:
“Don’t hassle me when I’m going drinking”
(Nya Xala njangi twalzen).

The bou-bou shrike says “Boo-boo”
When his mate says “Koo-koo, whee-oo, too-whee”.

The pearl-spotted owl grieves quietly:
“Pehew, pehew”.

The bokmakierie says his name over and over again.

The grey-headed bush-shrike whistles like a ghost, loud and long

And the fiery-necked nightjar says, very quietly,
“O Lord deliver us”.

LitNet: 14 February 2006

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