John Heckman

Great Blue Heron

Squawk-talk
Primal and primitive
the echo spoke
mother wind swooshed
her wishes
leaves turned-up the volume
silent wings
of slate gray
graceful prehistoric,
stealth stalker
still like a pink plastic yard flamingo
till the bullfrogs croaked.

Autumnal Fabric

Out-stretched necks,
flying jazz musicians'
finely feathered
tuxedo's pressed into
bugle-honking
orchestrations
heralding the change

Thick thatch
choking greens to brown
Striped blister beetles
hunkered-down between
dried blades
of Kentucky 31

Whorled loosestrife
fallen star-like flowers
of yellow axile-stalk
sway with Mother's
morning chill-whisper

A well-dressed Pileated
Woodpecker stands knee deep
in skim-coated ice bath
suet shines his black beak
and a nuthatch clings
on graying limb of red-tip
photina with seed in beak

Blue awning with puffy
pima cotton pillows and lawn
patina parting striations
harvest equinox, a brilliant
lasting luster
seeds of Indian sunset
will grow another day.