Site Logo

Writers’ Weir: Chickadee Politics

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Writers’ Weir: Chickadee Politics

Suspended by rope from the eaves the feeder

hangs between me and the morning sun.

Shadows dance across my newspaper

as three chickadees, dart between a hemlock

and the waiting bounty of sunflower seeds.

How different from the junco which

will hunker down in the seeds and fly

at others with beak open and wings aflutter.

The chickadees are different. One flies in, selects

a seed and takes it away to crack or cache.

As the first leaves the second flutters in

while the third perches and waits its turn.

If only the politicians I am reading about

could show such interest in the common good.

— Richard Stokes


The Capital City Weekly accepts submissions of poetry, fiction and nonfiction for Writers’ Weir. To submit a piece for consideration, email us at editor@capweek.com.