Winter: Birds Bathing

The following poem by Pat Laster won first place in the POETS’ CHOICE category of Missouri State Poetry Society’s Winter contest. The poem is written in cinquain (sin-kane) sequence. 

Cinquain is a syllabic poetry form of 5 lines. The syllable count is 2-4-6-8-2. Some cinquains use iambic pentameter.

A sight

for sleepy eyes:

a pair of cardinals

fly to the birdbath. While she bathes,

he whets

his beak

on a nearby

limb of beautyberry.

When she’s finished, she flies away.

His turn.

Facing

toward me (behind

the window), he

dips and flutters, spreading

his tail feathers in a fan, stands,

surveys

the scene.

I don’t count

the repetitions, but

soon enough, a speckle-breasted

thrasher

flies up

wanting a dip.

“Red” moves to the near branch

where the wind ruffles and dries his

feathers.

Cleaning

his bill once more,

he flies home, while the long,

brown bird follows the same bathing

routine.

On this

Martin Luther

King Monday, what a treat

for one who’d just arisen from

a dream.

                            by Pat Laster

Me, Pat Laster, Dorothy Johnson
Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow, Oct '12
Wine-Thirty