Hilton Head Island: a beautiful bird; drinks on deck; three poems

 

I thank Roger for permission to share the excellent photo of my favorite bird, which he captured during a recent trip he and his wife took to New Zealand and kindly sent to me.  Unsurprisingly they like the country and the people.

The past few days have been delightful in the marsh.  Highs in the 70sF, low 20sC.  Shorts and t-shirts.  And drinks on the deck for the first time this year which was a great pleasure.  Unfortunately a front passed last night with some rain, rapidly decreasing temperature, and a gale warning.  As usual we do not have the full force of the wind on this side of the island, but there are white-caps on Skull Creek and the Spanish moss is in a frenzy.  

My morning poetry presently comes from JAPANESE DEATH POEMS.  Not as grim as that sounds.  Most are calm and accepting.  Some, such as this one by Moriya Sen’an, who died in 1838, hopeful.

My Western poetry is drudgery.  It is in the PENGUIN BOOK OF ENGLISH VERSE which is so long that I am forcing my way through twenty pages a day instead of the usual ten.  

The book includes blurbs of lavish praise from many presumably reputable reviewers, but I have found the first 340 pages hard work.  I persist in hope perhaps similar to Mr. Sen’an’s, that it will get better.  It has even has selections from Shakespeare that are dull.

Here are two I like.

And, perhaps apropos as I work each day rewriting GANNET 6–I am about halfway through and pleased to be making only minor changes—from Robert Herrick, 1591-1674.