Magpie Poem by James Phillip McAuley

Magpie

Rating: 2.5


The magpie's mood is never surly
every morning, wakening early,
he gargles music in his throat,
the liquid squabble of his throat.

Its silver stridencies of sound,
the bright confusions and the round
bell-cadences are pealed
over the frosty, half-ploughed field.

Then swooping down self confidently
from the fence-post or the tree,
he swaggers in pied feather coat,
and slips the fat worms down his throat.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Jonathan 25 November 2021

There are two mistakes in the first stanza. It should be 'waking' in line 2, and 'note' at the end of line 4.

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Jennifer Boer 30 March 2020

Have loved this poem since I first found it in a copy of 'Surprises of the Sun' bought from the Adelaide University book shop in 1971. my favourite poem of all time, so Australian, so spare and beautiful.

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James Phillip McAuley

James Phillip McAuley

Lakemba, New South Wales
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