Cowbirds
Once native to the Great Plains,
following the vast herds of bison,
nestling into the prairie grass
behind the boundless herds to feast
on the leaping, the buzzing,
the winging insects stirred up
in the shaggy creatures’ lumbering wake,
now stranded in pockets of invasive,
short-cropped, uncanny green,
short-cropped, uncanny green,
inhabited by bug killer and songbird nests
they must colonize to survive.
3 thoughts on "Cowbirds"
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I did not know this history of cowbirds—thanks!
Wonderful eco-poem! Terrific poetic closure, landing on the word “survive” – the mood, deeply sympathetic.
Birds have been on my mind, too. I echo Michele above!