Chickadee History


Enlivener
of our winter woods.

*

The chika is,
as a rule, two tones
higher than the dees,
and the pitch is
B on the chika and
G on the dees, in the
next to highest octave
on the piano.

*

They made aiming
almost impossible,
for every time I raised
the rifle, one or two
birds would perch
on the barrel
completely hiding
the sights.

*

'Any old
side up
without
care'

*

Blind man's bluff
and hide and seek,
and tag

when
staged in three dimensions

a labyrinth of
interlacing branches for

hazard

and swinging
underneath, caught
each end of the caterpillar

with a foot
so held it
fast

within a few feet
of its apple-branch door

calling Hear, hear me,
with only a breathing space
between repetitions

caught by a cat
at Belvidire, N.J.,
on December 24, 1932

I wrapped the offending
rag around the branch

the tail moves, the expanding
wings shoot out sideways
and strike the
surrounding wood
inside the cavity
and as the head comes
stiffly down the bird
emits a strong
hiss or puff
strikingly like that
of the copperhead.