The crows were raucous tonight
black eyes sharp and beaks
darting in and out with comment.
Indignant pigeons coo-cooed
as they passed by.
Hors d’oeuvres were pecked
a peacock picking the daintiest piece.
I stood as usual in my sorry spot
looking slowly here
and there
my eyes resting occasionally
on the long-legged lady in pink
who sang at the end of the bar.
This is an important poem in my journey. In 2002 I thought I might try an online poetry course (this was in early internet days) and with great nervousness entered this poem along with my application. The professor was Scott Wiggerman, a well published poet and editor for Dos Gatos Press in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You can imagine how thrilling it was when Scott replied personally to say how much he enjoyed my poem and welcomed my participation in his course.
I had written poems here and there most of my life, but that acceptance letter marked the beginning of my serious poetic journey. Thank you Scott!
The image above was created by MidJourney, an AI. I tried many times to get the image the poem brings up in my own head, but in the end I couldn’t convey the concept - so we will accept this lovely flamingo -