Through two decades
A dead Live Oak
Stood upright
Perch for families
Of Florida Black Vultures
What sights I’ve seen
On that stage
Young buzzards courting
Males competing for
The belle of the bough
Married couple kissing
Passing food between beaks
Here they are with baby
Showing him how to perch
And search
For newly-made swamp corpses
Other days watching them
Wings outspread
Drying out stormy feathers
One day the mom and dad gone
Baby sat for three days
Finally the smaller one returned
Maybe dad creamed by a car
While cleaning up the road kill
In the middle of city streets
Then the other day
A muffled crash in the swamp
Perch finally fell
And here I go in pursuit of my “art”
Worrying about Water Moccasins
And other snakes
As I wade through the grass
Snap, snap
On smart phone
That does no justice
To the thumbnails of Nature
Suddenly recalling last week
Vulture in my yard
Broken wing
Hopping around
Looking for a way out
I opened the gate and tried shooing him
But he didn’t get it
He did find a pile of tables and plants
Climbed up over the fence
Relieved he escaped
Yet what are the chances
A bird will live safely
With a damaged wing
Birds
Trees
Life yet death symbols for me
And I recall sitting under
Another Live Oak
Many years ago
And it splitting
For no good reason
Phone ringing, me running
My mother’s voice funereal
My favorite uncle died
The trees never lie
But do I think a tree
Can actually be
A psychopomp?
Birds play that role for me
But would a bird
Lead a bird
To the afterlife
Or does the tree’s soul
Take control?
After all
They were friends for so many years…
© 2017 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGES: Live Oak perch fallen in my swamp and FL Black Vulture on the perch in my swamp
poeturja 
This is nicely deep.
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Thanks so much! One of those poems that write itself yet must have been percolating in my brain…
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Love it. As we read and read to capture the cadence it became clearer. Nice work.
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Your words and photo do the swamp justice. It’s amazing that so much beauty and sadness exists in the most unlikely of places. You made the swamp beautiful, Clarissa!
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Ah, thanks so much, Rob! Nature teaches, just need to pay attention and not sleep through the class…
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This took me from my immediate association of vultures with death to sudden shock of their absolute lifeness, having families, then back to the association with death in a sudden and altogether right swing of direction. The part where you take us with you in a walk through the swamp feels so real. I have fallen in love with this poem. (side point, ‘belle of the bough’, perfect wordplay!)
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Oh, thank you, Z! I always felt revolted from even the thought of a vulture until I moved here and got to observe them. They are very smart and family-oriented and in our town we do not have street cleaners so they do a great job of “cleaning up” every morning. As a bit of trivia, had to post a picture of my “wellies” because my FB friends were upset that I walked among the snakes…
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