JAKE'S WILD WING DING
A Morning Chorus Celebration
It’s midsummer weekend, and I’m down with Lyme Disease. It happens now and then when you live in the town where our namesake disease was first identified. So I thought I’d post something fun today. It’s a children’s story I wrote for my grandchildren before any of them were actually born. (I’ll have to tell the full story in comments, or on another day.)
Meantime, please read this story to your kids, especially if they happen to be bird lovers. If they tell you all those birds couldn’t possibly be in the same place at the same time, tell them the author said, “Hey, kid! Lighten up!” Seriously, let me know what they think, and you, too, in the comment section below.
by Richard Conniff
1.
At dawn before his mom’s awake
Jake hears the birds rise up and shake
Their feathers out and start to sing
First on the nest, then on the wing.
2.
Their music bolts him out of bed,
Out the door, to lift his head
And listen to the rising chorus
Of songs for birds (but also for us).
3.
Plus whistles, cackles, squeaks and toots,
And croaks, and squawks and owl hoots.
Jake whispers “I love birds,” his eyes
Roaming cross the morning skies.
4.
I love you Nuthatch, Toucan, Kiwi,
Shoebill, Frogmouth, Grackle, Peewee!
I love you, turkeys, I love geese,
I love you, rainbow lorikeets!
5.
With that he races back inside,
Throws the doorway open wide,
Lifts the windows, scatters seed,
And yells, “Come, birds! Come down & feed!”
6.
Ring-necked Pheasants, Prairie Grouse
Are always welcome in my house.
Birds of all 10,000 types,
Birds with polka dots, also stripes!
7.
The birds dance down to greet the day,
Birds at party, birds at play,
Bluebirds splashing in the sink,
Spoonbills dressed in finest pink.
8.
Birds singing, whistling, screaming, thrumming
Trilling, hooting, yacking, drumming,
Loons bassooning, Gadwalls burping
Cuckoos clacking, Kildeer chirping!
9.
Motmots dance the dawn away,
Manikins moonwalk, hummingbirds sway,
Swirling, darting, cheek to cheek
(Sorry, make that “beak to beak”!)
10.
The penguins form a conga line,
Jake grabs hold and jumps behind,
Into the living room, up the stairs,
Turns and flies back down the rail!
11.
A condor says “Jake, climb on board!”Then out the door and up they soar.
Other birds flying all around,
The wind! The clouds! The sound, the sound!
12
It fills his heart, he shouts for joy,
Flings up his arms! But then the boy
Is tumbling down from cloud to cloud!
A voice cries “J-a-a-a-ke!” a voice quite loud.
13
“It’s O.K., Jake, no need for screaming,”
His mama says, “You’re only dreaming.”
Then Jake sits up and shakes his head
Sees that he is back in bed.
14.
“My silly goose,” his mama sighs.
She does not see the smiling eyes
Of birds in hiding all around,
Or signs the party’s winding down.
15.
The sleepy parakeet slowly blinking,
The pelican toward the window slinking,
Two by two birds bid goodbye,
And slip off to the boundless sky.
16.
Jake hears a robin outside singing,
Also distant church bells dinging,
Then a sparrow’s cheep-cheep-cheep,
He smiles & falls straight back to sleep.
THE END
“Jake’s Wild Wing Ding,” copyright © 2024 by Richard Conniff
But Richard, I thought you knew everything! I can see you running a bird camp for the grandkids. Maybe you'll get an ornithologist out of the group.
Get well and stay well.
Aww, who knew you had a poetic soul? The grandkids are going to love it. I agree. It should be illustrated. Great way to teach kids to identify birds.
Hope you bounce back soon from the Lyme disease.