great-tailed grackle
struts across the wind-dried lawn
cackling secrets.
he squawks his madness
jibbering arcane folklore
for any to hear.
The freshness of Spring and Nature calls
even to Mr. Grackle does love befall
His feathers shine in the sun's gleam
a purple hue of a metallic sheen
To look his best his black feathers clean
in his bill grabs an ant for anting
Rub those feathers with the bug
it's formic acid removes parasites snugged
Now the courtship begins to ensue
through the air sweet female he pursues
rivals fly to intervene
but Mr. Grackle's skill keen
For she follows him her cove
shrieks and eeks their song of love
to and fro their singing goes
like a rusty gate the sounds flow
Feathers fluffed and puffed
each knows they got the right stuff
they settle in nesting hatching their brood
in a community of grackles for neighborhood mood
Mr. Grackle proud with a nest pristine
for grackles keep their home clean
At night the Grackles do a communal roost like no other
a million grackles with friends those numbers shudder
The old boy now living the good life
for Mr. Grackle got a wife
The great-tailed grackle
struts in the loud sun cackling
his dark, mad secrets
Winner 5th Place: April Poetry Month Daniel Henry Rogers (Sponsor) 4/30/26
An ornithologist of renown
studied every bird in town.
Indeed this vaunted scholar of worth
catalogued each tweeting thing on EARTH.
Quickly and thoroughly he dispatched
all those creatures that ever hatched.
There's only one he didn't tackle.
I'm afraid that was the grackle.
There are some birds I'd like to talk about today -
a cardinal, hummingbird, robin, and blue jay;
but, put me on a chain, put me in a shackle,
you can never spoil my fun. I'm saying "grackle".
grackle torments mom
police come by ask about boom
dad hides in closet
Today, I saw a grackle
(fam. Icteridae) -- a common sight --
braving the wind atop a post
among parked (and moving) cars.
Feathers ruffled in the gusty air,
it was not spooked
by movement, engine noise,
or human presence.
It seemed to me to make a show
of avian bravado; but, in truth,
it could not ever know
what mischief might be wrought,
purposely or not, upon such creatures
by other creatures (such as us.)
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