Birdwatching, Winter
Poetry
This chilly October day, birdwatching begins
for the autumn-winter season on the coast.
Some remember where they dined last year,
new hatchlings follow their parents,
others are drawn in by the crowd.
Quiet tuxedoed chickadees,
happy wrens singing,
a matched pair of cardinals,
nine mourning doves,
one black-capped catbird,
a spry nuthatch, upside-down,
one downy woodpecker flitting,
one bluebird, then five,
a winter-marked goldfinch,
the big red-bellied woodpecker,
and one delighted gray-haired observer
taking through-the-glass photos,
in amazement of the birds’ plumage,
tell-tale quirky personalities,
and bird feeder acrobatics.
Pamela Brothers Denyes' award-winning poems are published in numerous Virginia journals, Wingless Dreamer, Barstow & Grand V, Honeyguide Literary Magazine, several international collections by The Poet Magazine, Vallum Poetry and more. She published a chapbook, As I Lay Dreaming, and two full-length collections, The Right Mistakes and The Widow’s Lovers (published by Kelsay Books) in 2022.