Category: Birds

The Master Painter did this one
In Midday Sky and Setting Sun

by Ray Romine Thursday, February 4, 1954

I saw him flash his different blue
Where the white-starred dogwood grew;
I watched him take turns with his mate
Feeding from the pasture gate.
Today he dominates the scene
Where the river bank is green.
Such treasured spots know his bright hue,
A bluebird must love beauty too.

by Ray Romine Thursday, April 23, 1953

This feathered Seltzer bottle is
Furious. I know why:
Because that blatant blue of his
Can’t outdo the sky!

by Ray Romine Thursday, November 15, 1951

That bird I’m sure I do not know
Turns out, of course, to be a crow.

What’s that that’s brown–wings long and narrow?
Exasperating. English sparrow.

Down there! The water-bird! Oh, shucks.
Mallard. Most plentiful of ducks.

And that one with the purple back’ll
Turn out in time to be a grackle.

Keep looking sharp, and what has wings
Turns out the commonest of things;

But fail just once–avert your eyes–
And miss the rarest thing that flies!

by Ray Romine Saturday, October 13, 1951

My next door neighbor yearly spends
Some sum attracting feathered friends,
While I, with seed, expecting grasses,
Attract his doggoned birds in masses.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, April 25, 1951

Black and Orange, debonaire,
He hangs a castle in the air.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, December 30, 1953

Swift and bold and wild and shrewd;
Symbol of land that gave him birth,
The eagle soars all unsubdued
To bridge the gap from Heaven to earth.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, June 10, 1953

I find your twitter and your tweet
At 5 a.m., a little sour–
Please sing upon another street,
Or wait until a decent hour.

Recall, oh friends who soar and flap,
A friend may soon become a pest
Who cannot close his little trap
While other friends prefer to rest.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, July 4, 1951

I find I am but little stirred
By a man who imitates a bird.
Much more impressive, who began
A bird, to end him up a man.

by Ray Romine Saturday, September 1, 1951