vagrant
raining to beat hell -
under garage eaves
on the light over the door
it huddles
under garage eaves
on the light over the door
it huddles
not quite the picture
in the bird-book: too plump
with feathers puffed up somehow
- for warmth maybe, a thousand miles
from the tropics
on a perch out of the rain
crouching though, head down
he is spied: a large magpie,
plumed natty as the rest,
swoops down and scares him off -
struts and stares on the light
then back to his perch high in the trees
magpies have their case: they were here first
and you let in one, next it’s a hundred
still, you can tell he enjoyed that
vagrant: a stray bird far from its normal ecological range
Bionote
James Thurgood was born in Nova Scotia, grew up in Windsor, Ontario, and now lives in Calgary, Alberta. He has been a labourer, musician, and teacher – not necessarily in that order. His poems have appeared in various journals, anthologies, and in a collection (Icemen/Stoneghosts, Penumbra Press). He is also the author of His Own Misfortune, a work-in-progress.
in the bird-book: too plump
with feathers puffed up somehow
- for warmth maybe, a thousand miles
from the tropics
on a perch out of the rain
crouching though, head down
he is spied: a large magpie,
plumed natty as the rest,
swoops down and scares him off -
struts and stares on the light
then back to his perch high in the trees
magpies have their case: they were here first
and you let in one, next it’s a hundred
still, you can tell he enjoyed that
vagrant: a stray bird far from its normal ecological range
Bionote
James Thurgood was born in Nova Scotia, grew up in Windsor, Ontario, and now lives in Calgary, Alberta. He has been a labourer, musician, and teacher – not necessarily in that order. His poems have appeared in various journals, anthologies, and in a collection (Icemen/Stoneghosts, Penumbra Press). He is also the author of His Own Misfortune, a work-in-progress.
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