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The Day I Held a Hummingbird

When you use spider silk to build a nest,
You take an awful risk.
This is what I learned from a hummingbird
Trapped in a spider’s web.

Still alive, the bird fought for his freedom,
The spider watched, waiting,
Shrinking back when I moved to intervene.
I gently pulled the bird

Out of the sticky tangles of the web.
Afraid I might crush him,
My fingers, trembling, pulled the silk away
From tiny, tightbound wings,

Glowing iridescent in the sunlight
When I opened my hand,
He shot into the air, flying swift north,
seeking another web.

—

This is a true story from a few years ago. I’ve written a few other poems about it, but this one is the latest. I’ve been experimenting with writing lines with specific syllable counts and sometimes stumbling into formal meters. Experimenting with rhythm, I guess.

Check out more good stuff at Read Write Poem, where you’ll find a number of folks who wrote a poem a day for the 30 days of April, aka National Poetry Month. I didn’t shoot for that, but I did write more poems this month than usual, many of which are at a gnarled oak or in my journal. And, I revised a lot of older ones.

Published inBirdsPoemsPoetry

5 Comments

  1. I was right with you as you rescued the hummingbird, like Irene, holding my breath. What a story! I love watching hummingbirds and wrote a haiku on one this month. I’ve also written about tarantulas. I like how you use detailed images and rhythm to tell a story fo the natural world.

  2. Hi James,

    What a wonderful poem and I love the narrative nature of it! I am so glad that you managed to rescue the poor fellow.

    A bird is the personification of freedom. Therefore, it is so sad and feels unnatural to see injured or caged birds. They belong up in the air, like Baudelaire´s albatross:

    “Scarcely have they placed them on the deck
    Than these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed,
    Pathetically let their great white wings
    Drag beside them like oars.” (Charles Baudelaire, “Albatross”)

    /Jenny

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