TWO POEMS BY DON THOMPSON

Oriole

To live here and thrive,       
You have to think like dust.

Have to humble yourself
Like languid, khaki moths,

So drab in the dead grass
Predators don’t notice them.

Our visiting oriole
Thrashes in the birdbath,

Trying to wash his colors off—
Embarrassed by bling

Where even hummingbirds dress in
Hand-me-down sparrow feathers.



Turkey Vultures

Selfless as fire, their flight
Effortless as leaves on water,

They draw a circle above our heads
That’s anything but a halo.

Vultures get under our skin
At any distance.  Up close,

They’d have the breath we wake with
After the worst bad dreams.

Eating things we won’t think about,
They look up from their free lunch

And meet our gaze easily—
As if we were old friends.



About Don Thompson:
Don Thompson been publishing since the early sixties, with eight books and chapbooks published in this century. Back Roads won the 2008 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize.