Search This Blog

Still Life with Bird and Poem

Posted



Still Life with Bird and Poem

Still Life with Bird and Poem
(c) John Corney
As I was in the bathroom getting ready for work this morning I heard a loud crack against the glass sliding door and my dog starting barking. I knew immediately that it must have been a bird that had flown into the glass, and sure enough, lying there on the deck was a finch (I have subsequently been informed that this bird is in fact a MacGillivray's Warbler). Sometimes they just seem to knock themselves out and after a couple of minutes they get themselves together and fly off. But not this little birdie. From the loudness of the sound I knew this little guy was literally going at "break-neck speed" and that's what he had in fact done. I felt so sad. He was so small and handsome and no doubt so full of the joys of spring. I felt very moved and brought him inside and cupped him in my hands and huffed on him to keep him warm just in case he might come around. After several minutes it was obvious there was no hope for him so I took him back outside and put him on the patio table with a lavender flower for a pillow. As I rode my bike to work I just couldn't stop thinking about him, and riding along the creek where there are so many birds, I composed a poem in his memory. I put the poem on the photograph with him in his honor. Hopefully this guy's made it to heaven by now and is singing with the angels. (Click the photo above for a larger image that will allow you to read the poem).

Just in case you aren't up on world religions sufficiently to know who the Jains are, they are a strict Hindu sect that respects life in all its manifestations to the extent that they wear masks in daily life so as not to inhail even an insect that might be floating on the air. Although I didn't set out to write a poem that is about the Buddhist principal of following the middle path, that's essentially what the poem is about. The invisible glass, albeit inanimate, brought death to the bird; he needed to pay attention to the invisible in life as well as the visible. The moral of the poem is that we should not give all our energy to one thing or belief to the extent that we lose touch with other realities, points of view, etc. I have no idea what might have been going on in my subconscious at the time I composed this poem in my head as I rode to work and to have ended up with this as the outcome of my "meditation" on the death of this bird, but that's in fact where it all led.

This image and poem are copyright. If you are interested in prints, please contact me using the link at the bottom of the page.

Bird Photo Gallery


Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Not to take anything away from your photo or poem, but the bird is a Connecticut Warbler, not a finch.
November 6, 2007 at 11:52 AM
John C said…
Hi Curt,

Thanks for the info. I am no real expert on North American birds not having grown up in the U.S. so I appreciate the correction.
November 6, 2007 at 6:26 PM
John C said…
Me here again. Actually, Curt, I looked up my "Stokes Field Guide to Birds" and I don't think this could be a Connecticut warbler as its range doesn't extend to Southern California for a start. I'm still thinking it's a gold finch. I'm going to post it to the Flickr group that IDs birds and get an answer from someone there hopeuflly.
December 1, 2007 at 3:56 PM
John Corney said…
According to coracii at Flickr, this bird is a MacGillivray's Warbler (Oporornis tolmiei).
December 1, 2007 at 5:55 PM
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Most popular posts in the last 30 days

A Dose of Capybara Cuteness to Brighten Your Day

Posted
Sometimes the internet delivers a piece of pure, unexpected joy — and today, that joy comes in the form of a capybara ready for its ballet debut. Tutu Cute Capybara Known as the chillest animal on the planet, the capybara is famous for its serene demeanor and its uncanny ability to befriend just about every other creature. But what happens when this icon of calm decides to trade a quiet soak for a spirited plié ? You get this: a masterpiece of whimsy. This tutu-wearing trailblazer is a perfect reminder to embrace the silly, find your own rhythm, and dance like nobody's watching — even if you're a giant rodent built more for lounging than for leaping. So the next time you feel like you don't quite fit the mold, just remember this capybara. Put on your own proverbial pink tutu, whatever that may be, and let your happy spirit shine. Perhaps there's a little princess in yo...
Image

The Farmers Queen Street Santa — An Auckland Christmas Icon

Posted
The Queen Street Santa is one of those pieces of Auckland Christmas iconography that's hard to explain to anyone who didn't grow up seeing it. Standing 18 metres tall, the statue's history is more layered than most people realise: it started life on the original Farmers building at the corner of Hobson and Wyndham Streets in 1960, moved briefly to the Manukau City Shopping Centre in the early '90s, then settled onto the Whitcoulls building on Queen Street, where it stood through the 1990s and 2000s — which is where I photographed it in January 2010, in the photo below. Farmers itself later moved back into that same Queen Street building in 2020, and the giant Santa went back up that Christmas along with them. As far as I can tell, though, it hasn't reappeared since — 2020 seems to be its last confirmed outing, which fits with what a lot of older Kiwis have told me: they remember it fondly, but suspect it's gone for good. The Farmers Santa — Queen St...
Image

Samoan Youth

Posted
This young man was preparing with his friends for his moment of fame on the stage at the Samoan Village at the Polynesian dance festival called Pasifika in Auckland in March this year. Samoan Youth Canon EOS 20D 1/30sec at f/20 ISO 200 Canon 70-300mm lens at 300mm More photographs from the same Pasifika Festival day can be found in my new post, Faces of Pasifika 2007 — A Day at Auckland's Pacific Festival .
Image

A Grunge Botanical Collection — Five Painterly Garden Pieces

Posted
Over the past few weeks I've been building out a small collection of botanical pieces using photos taken in my garden here in Irvine, California, (and in one case out on a hiking trail here in SoCal), and using AI assistance to give each one a grunge, painterly treatment — dark, richly textured backgrounds with warm gold light breaking through, turning garden snapshots and trailside finds into something closer to old varnished still-life paintings than straight photography. Here's the full set so far. Epiphyllum oxypetalum — Queen of the Night, Painterly Botanical Art A night-blooming cactus that flowers just once or twice a year, for a single night — three blooms at different stages caught in one frame from a night it happened in my garden. Kangaroo Paw — Painterly Grunge Botanical Art Australia's velvety-flowered native, grown in my own garden, its stems reaching in different directions the way it actually grows rather than posed into symmetry. ...
Image

Leaning Tower of Pizza — A Pun Born on the Road to the Pisa Airport

Posted
I spent last week in the La Spezia/Cinque Terre region of Italy on a Road Scholar hiking trip — the kind of trip where your legs ache pleasantly every evening and you eat more focaccia than is strictly necessary. On the drive to the Pisa airport at the end of the week, someone mentioned we'd be flying out near the Leaning Tower, and it struck me: to my ear, "Pisa" sounds exactly like "pizza." I'm sure any actual Italian speaker would hear a clear difference, but mine apparently isn't tuned finely enough to catch it. The pun wrote itself from there. Leaning Tower of Pizza — Funny Food Pun Illustration Stacked pepperoni slices standing in for stone arches, mozzarella dripping like mortar between the levels, and the whole thing tilting at the same improbable angle as the real tower — built with AI assistance, once the idea had lodged itself firmly enough in my head that I had to see it through. Available on Redbubble Leaning Tower of ...
Image