Nature Poems by Ron Pickett

THE OLD PELICAN

There’s a black phoebe on the feeder this morning,
She’s chasing other birds away.
Black top knot and glossy black bib,
Small, territorial, aggressive.
And we saw a pelican on the split rail fence

Doves in the dust, a dry bath for feathers and insects
Cooing sounds echo around the neighbourhood.
They whistle-fly a few wing beats,
Then they duck under the shrubs.
They will be back this evening
The big owl has been silent lately,
He will return soon.
We saw an old pelican on a fence rail.

Humming birds hover and dart,
Sampling the nectar, pollen on its beak.
The old pelican is too far from the coast.
There’s a seagull on the streetlamp,
Looking for the beach
And five wild turkeys scatter as we pass.
Hawks pose on the treetops, surveying their domain
Crows and sparrows are everywhere 
The old pelican rests before flying west, home.

THE BLUE AGAVE

They have been there.
The Blue Agaves: lush and strong with long hard thorns.
Today I noticed them, for the first time.
The way they reproduce.
Like a hen with chicks,
The baby Agaves are surrounding their mother plant.
Their pointed thorns are ominous, protective.
How can a plant act like a bird?
How can a bird act like a plant?
Like chicks with a hen;
Like an Agave with spikes.
The shelter works.
We’ll use it twice.