superbly swallowed! thanks Brian.

KS

2009/12/6 Brian Hawkins <[log in to unmask]>

> Thanks for your kind words Max, Kasper, Judy, Doug and Patrick!
>
> Kasper - swifts, not swallows!  Where swallows are delicate, rather
> fluttery creatures whose flickering wings seldom carry them to any great
> speeds or heights (at least the ones I am familiar with), swifts (at least
> the species I was describing: the White-throated Needletail) are bigger,
> stronger, faster and cut through the air with a tremendous whooshing sound
> like black scimitars, often speeding great distances without a single flap,
> and must come down like screaming death on the tiny life-motes they inhale
> for food.  With their great curving wings held at an initial 90 degrees to
> their bodies, they appear broader than they are long, somewhat like wands or
> boomerangs (when high enough, their bodies are invisible, and all you can
> see is the line of wings).  Needletails breed in caves in the Himalaya, then
> descend on Australia for the southern summer.  It is said that they never
> come to earth in our hemisphere, but at night sleep high in the air
>  circling in rafts; though others aver that they have been observed (god
> knows how) sleeping clinging to the enormous pendulous leaves of titanic
> eucalypts (swifts have very weak feet and can't perch, only cling to
> vertical surfaces).  An amazing bird!
>
> Max, the cicadas here have had the volume turned up to 11 for at least 3
> weeks.
>
> Doug, sorry for being lyrical, I'll try not to do it again!
>
> Pat, I had no idea that swaddling was a real contemporary thing until we
> had our baby.  I have learnt about some other new words too: vernix,
> muconium, colostrum, colic, apgar score, projectile vomiting, I forget what
> else.
>
> Brian
>
> --- On Wed, 2/12/09, kasper salonen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: kasper salonen <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: For the Summer
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Received: Wednesday, 2 December, 2009, 10:21 PM
>
> yes, the senses 'ring' in this one. a beautiful little series of events,
> just the way I like em, with apt verbalisations.
> the eyeball kick of "bug lamentations" is great, and I've never considered
> swallows as wands; another small, striking image. thanks.
>
> KS
>
> 2009/12/2 Brian Hawkins <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > FOR THE SUMMER
> >
> > Leaving the swaddled baby
> > Sleeping radiantly
> > Tucked up in her cradle,
> > And Sal
> > About to lie down and rest,
> > On a hot November evening
> > I went running into the forest.
> >
> > The eucalypts rang
> > With the fire alarm clangour
> > Of cicadas keening
> > And hardly anything sang:
> > There was no point,
> > The bug lamentations
> > Were everywhere dominant.
> >
> > On the side of a tall hill
> > I looked up into the blue
> > That had seemed indelible
> > But was now growing pale
> > And saw dark wands
> > Weaving to and fro
> > On curious errands.
> >
> > No, they were swifts,
> > Down from the Himalaya
> > For the summer,
> > Free wheeling cursive
> > Against the bright beyond;
> > And as I neared the crest
> > I became aware of a sound
> >
> > I was lucky to hear
> > (They ride so high
> > And wide in the air):
> > The tiny cries of joy
> > The birds made
> > Eating up the day
> > As it glowed and faded.
> >
> >
> > Brian
> >
> > PS If anyone is interested, I can send audio of the extraordinary sound
> of
> > a eucalypt forest ringing with cicadas.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
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