L

Learning a Bird

by Alison Jennings

To pay attention . . . is our endless and proper work.  (Mary Oliver)

Be called to wild places; gather names,
     welcome flowers—beside
          the road, through cracks in sidewalks—

miracles on a wooded trail.

Pay rapt attention.

Treasure the bark of remarkable trees;
     learn a bird, recognize its special
          voice, distinct from the blur of warbles,

trills, and chirps that saturate its habitat.

Whatever you seek,
                          there it will be.

And if you need a poem, it’s been
     here—quietly waiting—unadorned,
          in the shape of wildflowers, scattered

like bread crumbs outlining your path. 

Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash

Alison Jennings

Alison Jennings is a Seattle-based poet who taught in public schools before returning to her first love, poetry. She has had a mini-chapbook of 10 poems and 100 other poems published in numerous journals, including Burningword, Cathexis Northwest Press, Meat for Tea, Mslexia, Poetic Sun, Red Door, Sonic Boom, and The Raw Art Review. She has also won 3rd Place/Honorable Mention or been a semi-finalist in several contests. Please visit her website at https://sites.google.com/view/airandfirepoet/home.