Read & Ring

Bells of the Cascades Read & Ring

dashing through much handbell music

to get the tone and flavor

in case we would like our bell choir

to learn to play it under the direction

of Matthew Compton was fun

even to this bumbling slow reader

playing the handbells has become

a learning to be an integral part

of a whole, in this case,

a note or two in a beautiful instrument

Bells of the Cascades’ READ & RING

wing spread

fledgling osprey chick

rises to a stand in nest

high atop utility pole

shudders, then lifts out

impossibly long wings

far to the sides of its slender body

raises them to shoulder level

only slightly bent at each elbow

wanting something but barely

contemplating the thrill or demand

of flight

needless pain they bear

individual animals figure things out

and their small group learns

a new method of dealing

with the world’s challenges

i.e., poking into a ant hole with a stick

whale belly-flopping high on a beach

to go after prey

but none yet sees a house

as shelter from inclement weather

they stand or huddle naked to rain

snow, sleet, hail when penguin

fathers could push snow together

to build a wall if not a roof rather

than use each other’s bodies

at the expense of his life

or osprey could angle sticks to create

a semi-cave in raw nest rather than

leave head and shoulders bare

to the storm

could we teach them? or would we

be leading them into our own

withered separation from nature?

oregon may 1st

may has arrived

chill, gray, deflowered, hopeful

man will learn to care