(after William Bronk)
back then was much the same
the scope, the skies:
blues and greens, scarlet cloud-tops
the moon electric on the washing line.
much the same
but for its crowded malls, its touching
simplicity, a playground
painted blue and green, a yellow swing.
now there’s a robin robin robin in my window
(in each quadrant of my screen)
one a tuft amongst the green, one in snow
black branches breast braving the blue.
green on green, overlapping scenes
entranced I stay for hours (or so it seems)
while the blue, brighter still in the sky,
tapers into pearl, into grey.
‘A few months and I barely remember,’ you say
your hand tight in mine but easing.
‘We’re here,’ I say. ‘We’re here,
and the world is lovely just the same.’
Images Robins (Erithacus rubecula) from Flickr Creative Commons (thanks Kev Chapman; Jez ; Richard Wiseman).
A ‘looking out my window piece’ inspired by William Bronk’s Midsummer poem and the sad news that Victoria is experiencing a second-wave of COVID-19 infections, with Melbourne entering lock-down again.
Shared on Dverse, the poet’s pub – where I’m hosting the bar – and we’re all looking out the window.
And here’s Miles with Blue in Green (just skip the ads…)
Peter Frankis writes 
This is really beautiful, Peter. The view of the birds is quite majestic, and you describe it as such in your marvelous poem. Excellent piece, and I thank you for the prompt today. That was a brilliant topic as it provides so much inspiration and vibrant imagery.
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Thanks Lucy – glad you liked it – and the prompt was lots of fun (and such a great collection of views to ogle).
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This is lovely all the way through. The memory, the robin, and the holding on to what’s important. Just lovely.
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Everything is ok where hands are holding each others’ I like the use of color up against the robin (your robin looks different than ours here.) Nice ambient music.
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AT the end of the day, that’s all we have. The ending throws weight back into the whole poem.
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Nature is such a gift in these Covid days to remind us that the world is still lovely just the same. On the sill of the window that overlooks our back yard birdfeeders sits a plaque that reads “Be Still and Know That I Am God”. Nature does that for us, does it not?
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What a lovely cadence to your verses, like a happy melody to be read out loud. I love the view of the birds, wow! I also love how this ended, hopeful, happy. Thanks for hosting.
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Thanks Grace. (my pleasure)
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Beautiful, heartfelt writing. Thank you for sharing!
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Yes, the world out there is still the same with bluer skies! Nature does not go by our rules. and we are glad it doesn’t!
Very nice!
Dwight
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A beautiful poem: I love the metre, and the message at the end. It reminds me of a favourite quote from The Handmaid’s Tale: ‘The moon is a stone and the sky is full of deadly hardware, but oh God, how beautiful anyway.’
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Thanks Ingrid – that’s a great quote – and what I was hoping to get to in the poem.
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Delightful poem and images, Peter – I love robins, although they are territorial and can be quite spiteful to other birds. The colours in this poem sine through vividly, and I especially love the image of ‘the moon electric on the washing line’ and the lines about the robins:
‘one a tuft amongst the green, one in snow
black branches breast braving the blue.’
The final stanza resonates and, as Sarah said, throws weight back into the whole poem.
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Your eords are enchanting and your poem is very timely, I’m in Victoria and it snowed yesterday.
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Thanks Suzanne – I suppose it is winter. 🙂All best wishes.
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The robins have multiplied here in NYC during the pandemic too, so your description of one in every quadrant really strikes a chord for me. And they have become unafraid of humans. Strange times.(K)
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There is such tenderness and isolation in this piece, and yet it comes across as full of hope and renewal. I wish you a glorious spring.
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Mind-numbingly good! And thanks for the cool prompting!
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Lovely poem; something I’ve wondered–where are you that you call that bird a robin? Looks nothing like what we call a robin (N. Am)
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Thank you. (the robins are virtual European birds “on my screen” )
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Outstanding, Peter. The ‘blue-green’ motif is mesmerizing and the flair of the birds add an exclamation to this poem!
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Thanks Walter (the poem that inspired it by William Bronk is worth a read).
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This is truly lovely Peter.
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A wonderful read. Each line contributes to the vision and changing time. A poem for a poet, indeed.
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I liked how you played with colours against the sky and the almost- kaleidoscope view of the bird in your window. I noted the wistful tone… and understood after reading your notes. God help us all through this plague.
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Such an appropriate theme you chose for the prompt, Peter, and, of course, you acquitted it so well for this difficult time we are all enduring. I pray we will grow through it and emerge (soon) a stronger world.
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By the way, I enjoyed the snippet of poetry you cited in your comment to me and want to read more of his work.
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Les was a super-prolific poet – he has an enormous door-stopper of Collected Works. Here’s The Body in Physics (from ABC radio interview some years ago).
The air has sides, in a house.
Birds, whacked from colliding, embrace
its sheer with umbrella-rib skiddings.
they gape silent death-cries when closed
in converging hands, or snatched out
of such parts of their theory as still fly.
Carried outside, they pause a beat
and drop upwards, into gravity that once more
blows as well as sucks. Fliers’ gravity.
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Pretty Robins that always remind me of Christmas. I love the changing colors of sky and thank you for the Miles Davis! 🙂 Great prompt for us this week Peter.
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Thanks Christine, glad you enjoyed.
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A technicolor piece, Peter, very enjoyable to final verse: the chromatic past that we hope will be ours again.
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thanks Steve. Yes, i hope so.
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