Celebrating Poetry is an insightful and inspiring book by Cindy Georgakas. Cindy’s beautifully expressed poems challenge us to examine our perspectives and to live our best lives.
Yesterday, I heard a loud commotion outside the window. I arrived just in time to see, silhouetted against the sunny sky, screaming birds pursuing slightly larger birds as they rose high in the sky. Then I noticed the mangled nest!
Sadly, I had witnessed a similar scenario before. A dozen years ago, I saw two angry mockingbirds repeatedly attacking a much larger osprey who was carrying their chick to its nest on a pole high above the parking lot. It was a hopeless situation for the mockingbirds, but they continued to attack.
Though I didn’t get a clear view of the birds yesterday, I am pretty sure the nest raider was a blue jay, known for preying on cardinal chicks.
Soon all was quiet. I saw the male cardinal pausing at the edge of the woods, silent now, and looking back toward the ruined nest as if to say goodbye. Cardinal family, you are in my thoughts. I share your sorrow, and I will always remember being privileged to witness your loving family life for an all-too-brief period.
I was too distraught to write about these devastating events yesterday, but this morning, it occurred to me that, even among humans, this is nature’s way. Many human children are victims of accidents, cruel diseases, famines, and wars not of their making. Many children die too soon. Today, I grieve for all the lost children, both animal and human.
This poem was written for Robert for Valentine’s Day and published in New Lyricist magazine, Issue 01, EIF Publishing, Ingrid Wilson.
Photo by Patrice Bouchard from Unslpash
News from the Palm Palace
The Palm Palace is a busy place this week. The Queen’s weeks of keeping the eggs warm are over; the eggs hatched on Sunday. The King has appeared, feeding insects to the tiny hatchlings. More news to come about the Cardinal Royal family.
Photo of male cardinal by Patrice Boucher from Unsplash
Photo of female cardinal by Joshua Cotten from Unsplash
Cardinals at the Palm Palace
Three small eggs,
pale blue flecked with brown
in a nest
made with love,
so exquisitely woven,
softly lined with grass.
Like a queen
in your palm palace,
self-assured
on your throne,
faithful cardinal mother
keeping your eggs warm.
We watched you
weaving your fine nest,
discovered
your blue eggs.
Pretty Mama, we share your
anticipation!
Very soon
your handsome husband
will help you
feed hatchlings…
King and Queen in your green realm,
reigning together.
We will watch
as hatchlings become
fledgelings, sprout
new feathers…
wobbly, but growing stronger,
flapping tiny wings.
Sometime soon,
comes the day they fly.
Under the
watchful eyes
of their parents, they’ll practice.
Soon, they’ll fly away!
We will watch
flapping tiny wings,
self-assured.
Someday soon,
King and Queen in your green realm…
Soon, they’ll fly away!
The cardinals’ nest, the “Palm Palace” is located among the fronds in the back of the tree on the left. We have a clear view of the nest from the window.
Northern cardinals live in North America. They are the predominate bird in our neighborhood. A pair of cardinals have a nest in our little palm tree that is clearly visible from our window. The mother bird is sitting on three eggs.
From my research, I learned that they raise two families a year. I think this is the second nest. We have not seen the father yet. He is probably at the first nest feeding the hatchlings while his wife is sitting on eggs in the second nest. When the eggs hatch, he should be here to help feed the hatchlings their diet of insects.
Robert and I made a feeder, hung it on a shepherd’s crook, and filled it with black oil sunflower seeds, supposedly the favorite treat of cardinals. We also put out water on a stand. So far, there is no evidence that the birds are using it. Thank you, Joanna of naturetails, for your advice on providing both food and water.
I meant to post this before Easter, but WordPress problems have slowed me down. Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy Easter and a lovely weekend! I am getting the computer problems worked out, but I still may not be able to “like” for a while. I appreciate your patience.
I have missed you. First, my 2013 computer died. I bought a new computer and got data transferred from the old computer. Two days later, our internet went off and stayed off for 10 days! No grocery deliveries, no TV, no computer, no house phone…When the internet came back on, I had 695 Emails. We are in the middle of many medical appointments, both for Robert and for me. I am also involved in a project that has been delayed by having no internet. I don’t think I will be up to speed for some time, but I will do my best!
Earthly Days in paperback and in the Kindle edition is now immediately available on Amazon, shipping in 1-2 days. It is also available on Barnes & Noble.
The paperback, because of the many color photos, had to be priced at $18.99. The Kindle edition, because it has no printing costs, is priced at $2.99. I priced the Kindle edition as low as possible to make it easy for all my fellow bloggers to enjoy the book. I would be ecstatically happy and eternally grateful for any reviews you submit, and I will share them on my blog as I have shared the review above.
Below is the Preface and Acknowledgements page from Earthly Days. I have recognized my WordPress friends for all you mean to me. Every poem in Earthly Days is better because of the experience, knowledge, and inspiration gained from my fellow bloggers. I am deeply grateful. Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you to those who have generously written such outstanding reviews and interviews. Your work is being used as a resource by my publisher in marketing Earthly Days. Your assistance in helping to launch Earthly Days is invaluable, and will be remembered always!
Celebrating the lives of our grandparents, whose positive influence has continued throughout our lives and in the lives of everyone who loved them. Photo by Jamie Street from Unsplash
Saying Goodbye to Our Grandparents
(Thirty Years Ago)
High on a hill, in a historic graveyard
overlooking a quaint Pennsylvania town,
we went to say our final goodbyes
to our grandmother.
After the crowd had dispersed,
my brother, sister, and I lingered.
We each threw a handful of earth
into the open grave.
There was something satisfying about doing that.
My grandmother had always loved growing things
in that Pennsylvania earth; she had placed a headstone
years before, planning to join my grandfather here.
Vintage Phonograph. Grandma was a “flapper” with bobbed hair and rolled-down hose, and she loved to dance! I don’t know how my grandparents met, but it might well have been at a dance. Maybe they listened to music on a phonograph like this. Photo by Sudhith Xavier from Unsplash.
Grandpa, born about 1898, worked in steel mills all around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a young man. He bought an early car and travelled to Chicago to learn how to maintain it. There were no repair shops then. In a time when most people didn’t go to school beyond the eighth grade, Grandpa had graduated from high school. He loved to read and continued to educate himself throughout his life.
My grandmother, about ten years younger than Grandpa, was only able to attend school through second grade because she had to take care of her younger sisters while her single mother worked. At twelve years of age, she went to work as a hotel maid to help support her family. In her teens, she worked as a lifeguard. During her brief time in school, she had learned to read, and, like Grandpa, she continued to educate herself as long as she lived.
As of today, Robert and I are both seventy-four. In another month he will be seventy-five. I tease him about this every year!
Yesterday was a sentimental journey, driving through the countryside to Arcadia to have lunch at Mary Margaret’s Tea & Biscuit, a restaurant where we had lunch shortly after we met ten years ago. Robert gave me a lovely orchid plant for my birthday, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable day!
When I went on break recently, I intended to rest and upgrade my technology skills. I decided to type up the three manuscripts that had been gathering dust for months in case I had an opportunity to publish a book. If not, the manuscripts would be ready to pass on to my children. I became familiar with the new version of Word along the way.
Then, a publisher who liked my book, Life in Inspiring Places, offered to publish and promote my new book, Earthly Days. Dedicated to Robert, it is at the publisher and will be coming out soon. It will be presented at the Miami Book Fair in November! Updates will follow.
Gulf Coast Poet 