Hummingbirds

Surgeon’s-probe beak, wings
bolstered by their own down draught;
on ghostly whirrs of
speed they hover, shunt backwards,
sideways, drinking throat to throat.

Hummingbird Colours

A moneyed sparkle
on emerald-indigo;
violet ears; throats
of ruby, cobalt. Their blooms
of choice: red, sun-orange, pink.

Hummingbird Statistics

Some near-weightless with
three hundred breaths, one thousand
heart-beats, per minute;
eighty wing-beats per second;
nest, small as a halved walnut

The Humming Cage

Caught, fed nectar, killed.
Their skins and feathers adorned
the Aztec kings; were
talismans of strength, and hope,
god-like might, beauty of heart.

Hummingbird Feathers

On a shaman’s cloak
their power lives on: myriad
wings pollinating
bee balm and mariposa
in sunlit, vanished forests.

Hummingbird Mysteries

Torpor occurs nocturnally for most hummingbird species.

They glow at will, die
temporarily each night.
Resurrection takes
an hour, transfiguration’s
glory a nanosecond.

Hummingbird Dreams

To be held aloft
while drinking the world’s nectar.
To be on the wing
yet still. To create phantom
wing-shapes in the air, that sing.

The Mating of Hummingbirds

More a matter of
spirit than body; swifter
than time; a brilliant
but not quite plausible trope
penned by a spellbound poet.

Humming

A meadow of bees;
mother with child; musician
in thrall to silence;
and these veiled wings blurring
hearts of flowers – work-song, love-song.