It's considered bad manners if you pickup your food
with the fingers that extend out from your paws
So many traditions surround
these inane culinary laws
Some days ago I watched a kookaburra
prepare a piece of meat
So unlike a human who need
a knife and fork for everything they eat
First he/she took it in his beak, thumped it on the turf
did it several times until a piece broke off
Then he opened up his beak, tilted back his head
downed this mini morsel with a mighty scoff
Humans are the only species that maintains a large variety of utensils
to prepare their food and then do dine
Followed up with crockery
to scull a glass of wine
Set the table, put cutlery in its place
add a clean white napkin on which you wipe your face
Me I prefer to be like the laughing kookaburra
Pick my fruit and park myself beneath a spreading shady tree
to dine in peace and eat my fare, much more naturally
laughing high in a tree
is that a kookaburra
doubtful in kansas
kookaburra laughs so loud
can be heard above the crowd
lets it fly, for he is proud
afterwards, he promptly bowed
a show off in so many ways
the kookaburra makes my days
his laugh is infectious, for sure
for pain, this bird can be the cure
noisy ugly bird
I dislike kookaburra
dark brown with big nose
Kookaburra chuckles me to sleep in my deep, deep dreams
Knowing he will sound the alarm in morning sunbeams
My rat terrier awakes with a start, dreams gone, new part
perched on a gum tree
kingfisher ogles the worms
lunch invitation
11.18.22
submitted to Brian Stands, Haiku Footle Tanka contest
This feathered comedian
sits perched on a suburban fence
scanning for what crawls the ground
or pokes a careless head up to break
the surface of a backyard pond,
stropps its beak to clean off
the leftovers from its last kill,
lifts its head and laughs.
But there is no frivolity trumpeting
from its throat, only a triumphant
boast, a warning to all held
in the cross hairs of its sight
that it owns this acre.
A rush of blood lifts a sudden
flare of wings and powers
a plunging terror towards
the unwary.
Then, bloated,
it squats on a high branch
with its blunt head motionless,
eyes locked in a meditative stare.
It cares little for the honour it has
in the hierarchy of native species,
or that its laugh is almost elevated
to the status of the National prayer.
Note.
The Kookaburra is a bird belonging
to the Kingfisher family and is endemic
to Australia, particularly the east coast.
It is celebrated for its distinctive
laughing call. In a way the Kookaburra
symbolises the irreverent side to
the National character.
What kind of faerie has her very own kookaburra?
I do not own him, he is my best friend, the tree faerie said.
But he is always with you, helping you dust the willy whacker leaves.
He does that by himself, she told the elf. He has that covered.
And he helps you whistle that happy tune every day!
The faerie tried to be patient, but this elf was getting on her nerves.
I have always whistled the Joyfulness Song, even before I knew him.
What would you like the kookaburra to do for you?
I want him to be my best friend too, the elf admitted.
You can come to tea with us tomorrow, the faerie told him.
At two o’clock they had their tea and they became friends.
And the elf stopped being ridiculously jealous for no reason.
Misery asphyxiates
as the world disintegrates,
yet the kookaburra laughs...
even if it aggravates!
BRIAN'S CHOICE L ,any form,any theme poetry contest
Contest Judged: 5/19/2020 (Winner: Honorable Mention)
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
Date written: 05/17/2020
A kookaburra laughing way up high
Caused a little boy to sigh,
"Can't you find another way
To welcome in the brand new day,
It's so hard to get some shut-eye."
Snake hunting bird in silent trance
Iconic outline on the branch
As daybreak dies, with laughter, quiet
You quell your deadly appetite
Your searching eye from tilted head
Has spied a rocky sun-warmed bed
A silent slither from the grass
A wary reptile dares to pass
And you bark brown, have flown away
For gumtops high to eat your prey
You laugh - as if you laugh at fate
It's true - considering what you ate.
The Kookaburra
Frank Halliwell
They congregate at break of day,
when night is almost done,
for a joyous benediction
to the rising of the sun.
And once again come evening,
when the western sky so bright,
surrenders all it's duties
to the velvet cloak of night.
I'd like someone to explain to me,
before I turn to clay,
'cause I've never heard that cackle
in the middle of the day.
Why they sometimes start at 4 AM
and wake me with a fright,
to join with them, to celebrate
the middle of the night!
o0o
The Kookaburra, this terrestrial Kingfisher like bird
With it's onomatopoeic call, laughter in it's world
They inhabit arid savanna's and humid forests so lush
Also suburban to residential, as all around them humans rush
These beautiful birds are sexually dimorphic in their look
Their plumage sometimes differs, but in some your not mistook
The Rufous-bellied, Spangled, Laughing and Blue Winged
Are the four Kookaburra's who chortle as they sing
These beauties from Australia, are carnivorous in their eat
From lizards, snakes, insects and mice, they sure do love their meat
Oh to hear a Kookaburra, in their wild and natural place
Their another of natures joys, that human eyes do grace
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