09 April, 2020: Buzzard
Read a Poem
Buzzard
by Nancy McDermott SND
That old dame up there
on the chimney drying out
puts her backside to the sunrise,
spreads her ancient wings and waits
for rising thermals,
for energy not her own
to lift her up.
Soon she’ll be searching for death.
Time has made her ready now
to feed upon the end of life.
Her head, her eyes, her beak –
this lineage she holds from days before
the asteroid that did them in –
the dinosaurs, that is.
Some would call her
charwoman, housekeeper,
architect of waste-not-want-not,
not knowing any better.
But she is a closer,
a conservator of life,
death’s dignity and
life’s promise of forward.
“Buzzard,” by Nancy Macdermott from Common Threads 2019. Used by permission of the author.
Nancy McDermott is an Ohio native, born and raised on the East side of Cleveland. Nature is her primary inspiration but often the smallest chance encounter with deeply human events will trigger a poem. For many years she taught science and math at the high school and college levels, so these topics often find their way into her work. Lately she has explored the topics of war and environmental destruction. Her work has been published in The Listening Eye, Sow’s Ear, and Common Threads, and her poem “Vernal Pool” won first place in Geauga Park District’s 19th Nature Writing Contest in 2019.
Write a Poem
Robert Frost wrote a poem about his thoughts upon seeing birches. What do you think about when you see maples, oaks, gingkoes, or pines?