We shit on our own feet,
trying anything to be cool.
We seek death out;
so we can live and grow.
We circle tragedy, hoping
to steal something from it.
We wobble when soaring;
balance requires adjustment.
We draw circles between clouds,
and patrol the land beneath.
We live in a world of cycles;
We ferry the dead to life.
—
This is inspired by Read Write Poem’s What Do You Believe (prompt #115). I say inspired because I didn’t use the suggested process. Instead, I started with the line “I believe in Vultures,” which was cut as the poem morphed into things vultures might believe.
This is also the latest entry in my Birds Nobody Loves series.
32 Comments | Filed under: birds and poems and poetry | Tagged: birds nobody loves, poems, read write poem, vultures
Great! This is exactly the kind of animal poem I am trying to write, too.
Thanks, Dave, glad you liked it. I’m looking forward to the next installment in your bestiary.
I had vultures, too; only, trying to take off they are less graceful.
I like the wobble/adjustment, and of course the shit to be cool.
Thanks, nelle. I enjoyed your poem too. Surprising similarities in the imagery…
Now this is original! Simultaneously depicting the tenets of a death culture and transforming the vulture, enduring symbol of impending end into ferrymen to the next living reality. Love the wobbling “belief.”
Thanks, Paul. Belief can get pretty wobbly at times, I think.
I really like vultures and I’ve been writing a lot of vulture poems and trying to find new ways of looking at them from a literary standpoint.
powerful…
Thanks, motherveg.
You never fail to impress…
Thanks, mark.
My ravens, your vultures. Seems scavengers are becoming popular.
I enjoyed reading this poem. The “shit on our own feet” line caught me by surprise. Nice work this week.
-Nicole
Thanks, Nicole. I do like scavengers. Coyotes are frequent scavengers so the idea goes all the through to my blog’s title, like yours as well, I suppose.
Wow, powerful, precise, depictive, and thought provoking… 4 out of 4 ain’t bad. Well written, and well pruned.
…rob
Moonfall
Thanks, Rob.
I like the repetition with all the different aspects of that essential Vulture-ness. The poem starts off strong, and doesn’t wobble like its subject at all… very cool but feet-shit-free. ^_^
Thanks, Joseph.
James I like the counterpoint in this.
Thanks, Irene.
I really like the last line – the idea of ferrying the dead to life is an intriguing explanation of the scavenger’s role.
Thank, DJ. It’s easy to forget the absolute necessity of scavengers to the health of our ecosystems.
nice vultures….from the start to a nicely done ending
Thanks, Wayne.
Terrific! A birds-eye view. So enjoyable.
Thanks.
I love this and especially the lines:
We live in a world of cycles;
We ferry the dead to life.
Very well done indeed!
Pamela
Thank you, Pamela.
What a great tilt on the prompt. We have much to learn from the vultures in terms of plain existential realities!
Thanks, Dick. I agree. As much as I love watching and learning about any bird, vultures fascinate me the most.
I get an image in my head of scott stapp standing on a cliff, raising his arms to the circling vultures.
a lot of your wonderful lines put humanoid-teenagers in my mind, too. “We shit on our own feet/trying anything to be cool” — “We wobble when soaring” — “We live in a world of cycles.”
parallel universe.
I had to visit wikipedia to find out who Scott Stapp is. I know about Creed, though so I wasn’t too lost.
It’s interesting to know that you thought of teenagers in this since I had them in mind. I work with at-risk teens and the phrasing of in first lines especially was inspired by my students (as well as by the fact that vultures really do that.) Many of them really have made a mess of themselves in their attempts to be cool.
Thanks for reading and for your comment.
I’m working on a series of “cycle” poems right now, and love the vulture pov you offer here!
Thanks, Erin. Good luck on that series.