Three o’clock in the afternoon,
central Texas summer day,
over a hundred degrees out.
I know there will be no birds,
nothing but grackles and vultures.
I still go out, and I’m not surprised.
Only grackles seem to like this heat.
The other birds hold still like
knots in the trees, silent waiting for dusk,
trying to keep their colors from melting
into the brown grass and faded leaves.
Overhead a few vultures soar on
steady outstretched wings,
folding sky and letting it move
around and over them as they ride
thermals up to more temperate
atmospheric zones. Meanwhile,
the grackles and I enjoy the heat
until the other birds begin to stir
and it’s time for me to go home.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
Man, this makes me want to sit in front of the A/C you described the heat so well.
Pass the ice tea, James….this is good work.
Thanks, Mark. This is actually from last summer–somehow, I never published it. This summer we have yet to hit 100 and it rains once a week. Very mild for a central Texas summer even if the highs are in the mid to upper ’90s. Last summer, though, that iced tea was a necessity.
[…] to the pond after work on Friday, it was 102 degrees out. I joked that I was going out to look at the vulture and grackle and that’s mainly what I saw, although down by the pond, I did see a pair of black-bellied […]