Ornithology as poetry - American writer's refreshing look at the mystery of birds and the lessons they teach us

 

From kingfishers to frigate birds - intriguing collection of poems 

INTERVIEWED for a recent edition of Time magazine, US poet laureate Ada Limón was asked why several examples in her  latest collection, The Hurting Kind, seemed to be about birdwatching. 

As quoted, her reply had a delightful simplicity: "I've always loved birds. They are not worried about news. They're focusing on this moment. There's a lesson to be learned from that."

Very true, and somehow reassuring in these troubled times.

The Californian's poet's sentiments are reflected in a poem inspired by her brief sight of a brilliantly coloured belted kingfisher scanning a creek for crayfish, tadpoles and minnows.

"People were nothing to that bird hovering over the creek,"she writes. "I was nothing to that bird which wasn't concerned with history's bloody battles."

After further reflection on the "flying fisher" which, by now, has flown off "in a blur", Limón's thoughts turn inwards, and the poem ends on a cryptic but strangely haunting note.

There is a solitude in the world

I cannot pierce. I would die for it.

Another bird that comes under the poet laureate's focus is the magnicent frigade bird whose red neck she likens to "a wound or hidden treasure - or both". 

A strange and disturbing analogy with a startling impact. What can she mean by that? 

From first poem to last, this is a very interesting, illuminating and often challenging  collection of poems - one where imagery, pace, timing of phrases and depth of emotion replace conventional poetic devices such as rhyme, assonance and alliteration. 

                                                                   

Ada Limon: 'There is a solitude in the world'

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A reviewer for the Los Angeles Times commented: "If you haven't read poetry in a while, this volume might be what you need to reconnect with the form."

Spot on! Not many people read poetry, but, as evidenced by this enchanting book, they perhaps don't know what they'e missing.

The enchanting cover illustration, incidentally, is by the poet's own mother, Stacia Brady.

The Hurting Kind is published at £12.99 by Corsair Poetry, a division of Little Brown. It is available wherever books are sold. 

Jim Wright