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Neat, indeed, Max. As you may know, Robert Adamson gets a lot of birds into his poems, especially in his latest, The Goldfinches of Baghdad (although that's his 'American book,' so might not be that available down there), where they flock around various concepts & mythos.... And to have a WIld Swan's feather, no matter what, sounds fine, for sure, in that snap of your desk now.... Doug On 9-Jan-07, at 4:44 PM, Max Richards wrote: > These feathers? > > - picked up in the park > when the morning sun > brought out their sparkle. > > This would be from a magpie > (local version, pert, musical), > this from a harsh cockatoo, > > this with its speckles > a crooning tawny frogmouth, > or a loud kookaburra. > > They all had a sheen > when I pocketed them - > like the pebbles > > on a clear creek bed > precious while wet only - > indoors flat as flat. > > The rainbow lorikeet > dead on the roadway - > to stoop and pluck > > would have seemed > to stoop too far. > It dazzled still. > > This feather, kept apart, > I brought from Ireland - > dropped by one of the swans, > > soon counted, by the lake > in Coole Park, no less. > It lay for decades > > on my desk, making my talk > less abstract, failing > to lift me into song. > > > 10 January 2007 > > Max Richards > Doncaster, Vic. > > [thanks to Alison and Randolph; welcome thanks to Anny and Joseph] > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au > > Douglas Barbour 11655 - 72 Avenue NW Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9 (780) 436 3320 http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/ Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy) http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664 Late night resurrection of a forgotten love, a vanished civilization, where the waning moon is the accusational eye of a discarded lover. . . . Love’s absence is still love, the heart a celestial wound. Christopher Dewdney