Words, Birds, and Me by Richard Martin

          "… if you can stop identifying things then
          you have a better chance of identifying with
          them." Steven Lovatt. Birdsong in a Time
          of Silence.

Two young magpies clutch at a branch
of the chestnut tree on the street corner;
their squawking screeches make it easy
to identify them – but then, does that really matter?

Two more have flown out of the fir tree
to join yet another pair on our neighbours' chimney –
a collection of birds, but not being their parent,
or a predator, my only interest is in their actions:

I see them as mirroring myself searching for changes
in perspectives of the view, and envy them the ease
with which they can manage this.



Richard Martin is an English writer who lives in the Netherlands close to the point where Belgium, Germany and Holland meet. After retiring as a university teacher in Germany, he turned his attention to writing, and has published three collections of poetry and numerous poems in magazines in England, the US, and Austria.