tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post749378082016546947..comments2023-11-03T02:10:42.039-07:00Comments on Unmuzzled OX: BIRDS IN THE FREEZERMichael Andrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09041946940083486881noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-89976315525580684972015-03-13T20:23:00.390-07:002015-03-13T20:23:00.390-07:00I utterly detest clichés but here's one: Great...I utterly detest clichés but here's one: Great minds think alike. But the same phrase functions differently for us: Titles for books take me a long time too but titles for poems are instant inspirations.<br /><br />This sucky winter is about done. I'm day-dreaming of taking the A train to Jamaica Bay and seeing some sea birds!Michael Andrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09041946940083486881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-42305006605077833662015-03-05T23:42:30.121-08:002015-03-05T23:42:30.121-08:00Good to hear from you, but nope - I can definitely...Good to hear from you, but nope - I can definitely say it wasn't even unconsciously plagiarized. It was a methodical, slow, slow thought process.<br /><br />The title of my next book, 'Unnatural Selection', however, is definitely 'borrowed'. To that I freely admit. Katrina van Grouwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09920145816536896139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-37543203335089775402015-03-05T05:25:52.477-08:002015-03-05T05:25:52.477-08:00Katrina, I suspect we both came across the phrase ...Katrina, I suspect we both came across the phrase someplace else. Where I couldn't say. We probably plagiarized unconsciously. I too was excited when I "invented" the phrase.Michael Andrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09041946940083486881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-10619831180965786952015-02-13T07:19:40.576-08:002015-02-13T07:19:40.576-08:00Hi Michael.
Wonderful poem - I like it a lot. And ...Hi Michael.<br />Wonderful poem - I like it a lot. And thanks for the excellent review.<br />I didn't pinch your title, though - I thought it up during a long car journey. I came up with about a million lousy alternatives before arriving at that one, and immediately knew that that was the perfect title for the book. Then I anguished for hours over whether to include the hyphen in "un-feathered"!<br />All the best, and thanks again, KatrinaKatrina van Grouwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09920145816536896139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-26123339043476282952015-01-27T06:28:43.711-08:002015-01-27T06:28:43.711-08:00My first red tailed hawk was up in a tree with a s...My first red tailed hawk was up in a tree with a snake in his beak. The snake was writhing but then the two flew away together. Isn’t there a flag with a snake biting an eagle? And then there was the red tailed hawk and pigeon luncheon at the Convention Center in Philly. Took him a long time to eat that chicken -- for so I translated it; I myself consume entire chickens from time to time, though rarely alive. Actually, never alive. Finally yesterday a red-plumed Princeton dude with a huge all-Ivy wingspan ate the beloved of one cute gray wailing bushy-tailed squirrel. Indeed I would never have noticed the redtail at his repast had I not first heard a repetitive shrill birdlike call from a bare tree above. All I saw at first was the little squirrel distressed. We lose our companion and grieve.<br />Michael Andrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09041946940083486881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-83626544789110140662014-11-01T06:18:40.959-07:002014-11-01T06:18:40.959-07:00Hey Michael how are you? lindagillen@verizon.netHey Michael how are you? lindagillen@verizon.netAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17306016780925206064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-11833955289245814852014-05-25T12:04:09.570-07:002014-05-25T12:04:09.570-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.robertahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14852244878830710258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-74530341312204247492014-05-25T12:03:37.630-07:002014-05-25T12:03:37.630-07:00https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=45086211@N00&...https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=45086211@N00&q=bird<br /><br />Bird pictures!robertahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14852244878830710258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-67450389946028928612014-05-20T05:15:37.780-07:002014-05-20T05:15:37.780-07:00SO SPRING
So spring
threw all its birds
at us at ...SO SPRING<br /><br />So spring<br />threw all its birds<br />at us at once.<br /><br />The sky is thick<br />with them -- the rose-<br />breasted grosbeaks,<br /><br />the cardinals<br />and the bluebirds,<br />the indigo<br /><br />buntings, the white-<br />throated sparrows.<br />They are all so<br /><br />bright, so frenzied<br />with color, with<br />sun upon them.<br /><br />We feared<br />it was too late<br />for birds this year.<br /><br />We feared winter<br />would never end.<br />We feared the sky<br /><br />would stay gun-metal-<br />goddamn-winter<br />grey. Then spring threw<br /><br />these crazy wild<br />birds at us. So<br />now we're saying,<br /><br />Amen, winter.<br />And, yes, Amen,<br />spring, and Thank you!Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11924864059360272068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11634524.post-73796921354088817832014-05-06T11:54:54.252-07:002014-05-06T11:54:54.252-07:00LATE SPRING
Steel wool wind
scours gray water.
Bla...LATE SPRING<br />Steel wool wind<br />scours gray water.<br />Blackbird fans<br />red and orange sparks<br />on his wings.<br /><br />--Warren Woessner<br /><br />I think that there are two types of poem about birds. The first primarily celebrates the bird ("To A Skylark"). The second, rarer type, places the bird in the context of an ecosystem, and the observer's reactions are less prominent.)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11428913921794043583noreply@blogger.com