Serenade? Poem by Glen Kappy
Serenade?
from 'While Passing Through'/Summer
Mr. Scrub Jay,
does the Mrs. hear your call
as serenade?
Your haiku have that matter-of-fact dialogue/interplay between humans and animals I fantasized about as a child. I wondered during which age we and animals could talk. I once asked my Dad if our lack of talk with animals was a punishment for eating the apple. For me apparently it was unfair we were cut off from contact with animals; much later I discovered losing intimacy with other animals is one of themes of GILGAMESH, .
hey, daniel! for me it's fascinating to think of the point of view of other creatures. in this case, the call of the jay strikes the ear as harsh and discordant. but to the female jay? we may not share language with animals, but surely we read a myriad of non-verbal signals to communicate. i have a friend who only (or nearly so) sees animal behavior in darwinian terms. e.g., what we call bird song is only about staking out territory or reproducing. a scientist, he holds this view that can't be proved empirically. but what we can see and do know is that we humans can and have acted in ways not explained by self-interest or naked biology. so why assume this isn't true with other creatures? thanks for your comment! glen
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/24/2024 7:03:56 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Thanks! And you probably know that like the other corvids, the sound of jays isn't to most of us music to our ears. Every year at about the same time a jay or two hangs out around my pinon trees. And usually it's their sound that tells me they've arrived. -Glen