Monday, June 13, 2022

PTSW: Pantoum

 Tricia at the Miss Rumphius Effect gave us a challenge several years ago: Write a "pantoum". To get the lowdown on pantouns check out Tricia's post. Then write your own and join the fun!

I love watching the Cliff Swallows along the Oostanaula as they build their mud condominiums under the bridges, and range in neverending swoops and dives over the levee capturing tiny insects to feed their families.



The Cliff Swallow

He dips and dives and soars and swings
from bank to bank and bridge to stream.
He stops to dip his muddy beak
and sculpt from mud his cozy home.

From bank to bank and bridge to stream
he snaps his food and dips again,
and sculpts from mud his cozy home
up high and sheer on concrete face.

He snaps up food and dips again.
A hundred hundred times or more
up high and sheer on concrete face,
he dabs the mud and flies again.

A hundred hundred times or more
he stops to dip his muddy beak,
and dabs the mud and flies again,
to dip and dive and soar and swing.
by Terrell Shaw


I have written before about our cliff swallows.

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