Poetry Corner: First Flicker
by Jim Farfaglia
Ah-h…the flicker.
The words fly off my lips
for all the hope he brings.
A bird guidebook confirms my hunch:
the flicker is our only woodpecker
that feeds on the ground,
not venturing this way
‘til backyards of green appear.
There’s no denying it now –
Spring is coming!
See him hopping from spot to spot:
giddy as a toddler,
joyful as I to be his witness.
Watch him drilling into earth:
the first of us to break ground
for its sustenance.
Note the red V on his neck:
a welcomed scarlet letter,
moving like a piston.
Hear his pivotal message:
Go deeper, he urges,
deeper.
And the winter weary
welcome his call.
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