‘Aviary’ by Tom MacIntyre.

Aviary (I – excerpted)

By Tom MacIntyre

Spirit-birds love
black of the bog,
banks loaded,
juice on the spade,
 
from nowhere gather
in celebration,
taste the action,
call it home.
 
You venture close :
pacey echoes
stir and murmur
names forgone,
 
Whimbrel, Whinchat,
Grebe, Merganser,
the names don’t fit
quite, the birds mind
 
their own business,
a heron shows,
lifts, departs,
you’ve met before,
 
that’s the hero
nicked your cap
and will not, will not
give it back…..

‘Bird in the Sun’ by Leonard Baskin

• Aviary , from A Glance Will Tell You And A Dream Confirm,Tom MacIntyre. Dedalus Press, 1994, Dublin.
• ‘The Philosopher and The Birds , Wittgenstein at Rosroe’

Barrie Cooke ‘Big Forest’ (Irish Times)