The Bird Man: For: Larry Butler Poem by Sheena Blackhall

A white American crane
Lifted by winds of change
Spread its wings and landed in Scotland

A golden bird isn't made to stand alone
Draws others under its wing.

This one promulgated Poetry Healing,
Developed Survivors' Poetry
Lapidus, Arts on Prescription

Waving hands like clouds
He edited Move on up
Catching the Dragon's Tail, published
Stories of hope and recovery from addition

Riding the Tiger
He produced Games, Games

Parting the Wild horses' Mane
He wrote on Creative Therapy
Produced a cookbook of
Nibbles, creative approaches
And Beowulf, verse script for the National Theatre

Turning to Gaze at the Moon
His poems are in Yuga Night
Han Shan Everywhere

He can stretch his Butterfly Bones and swim a loch
Be sweet, be sour, be serious in turn

He can scoop the sea one moment
Play his Japanese bamboo flute in a tree

This bird man paints the rainbow
In silence and solitude
By the lap lap lap of a wave

Working the shuttles of words
He leads strict Haiku sessions
wordsof wellbeing
Rengas, always drawing others in

Pulling the bow,
He runs a writing groupfor the Maggie Centre
His sessions aim for a bullseye against a killer
When the Wind Blows, the tree bends
In Mind, Remind, Remember
He wrote epitaphs and warnings
For endangered plants and species

As a white snake showing its tongue
He looks into Better Health for Men

Some weeks find him barefoot in Balquhidder
Parting the waves with Chikung and Tai Chi

This white American crane,
This golden bird man
What sets him apart from Glasgow's teeming throng?

The sheer scope of his interests:
Activism, protest, adventure
Ageing, biography,memoir
Childhood, death, bereavement
Scapegoating, family, food
Prejudice, addiction, alcoholism,
Friendship wars and conflicts
Loneliness, nature, isolation
Mental Health, Wars and conflicts

This white American crane
This golden bird man
Is a leader, a sharer, a carer
A giver, a teacher, a mentor
Catching the tail of the sparrow
But gently, gently