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SPINUS TRISTIS | MARYBETH CIEPLINKSI
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Above open fields they dip and swoop
on a sweltering summer day with sun-blistered pavement
or a crisp fall afternoon with leaves drifting down.
Whee-hee! Whee-hee!
Yellow and black streaks of color
as fast as June bugs,
as bright as the sunflower seeds they love,
singing out their roller-coaster joy,
searching for whatever food they can find.
Canada Thistle
Tickseed
Echinacea
Wild asters
Two, maybe three, times per summer the flailing young appear,
yellow gape wide, screaming
feedmefeedmefeedme
while harried parents rush to crack open seeds,
stuff the nutty kernels into ravenous maws.
Each season provides sustenance to the growing family.
In the Cuyahoga Valley, they flit year-round
in fields and forest edges,
alongside the river and marshes,
bright male plumage faded to mustard and gray in winter,
hardly distinguishable from their female mates until spring.
"Wild canaries" we called them as children.
"Yellow bird"
"Thistle bird"
The first sighting of sunflower yellow on wing tips
shows that spring is approaching.
The fields warm, sprout, expand, bloom,
and the song of the goldfinch
Whee-hee! Whee-hee!
gladdens the ear again.
All images come from iNaturalist. Authors are referred to data from the 2016 BioBlitz at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Photo 1227, (c) Glen Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA).
Prompt: Words to Move, Hear, and See
Prompt: Words to Move, Hear, and See
Marybeth Cieplinksi's "American Goldfinch" not only evokes the movements of the American Goldfinch but also mimics the sounds and creates an image of the bird. This poem engages with the senses through the use of dynamic verbs and sounds. Cieplinksi's thoughtful choice in words recreates the true nature and look of this bird, even making it possible to recognize them without the use of a picture. It is through the careful description and word choice in this poem that we are able to bring the American Goldfinch alive even when at home behind a screen.
Questions:
1. How does this poem appeal to the senses? Which senses does it appeal to?
2. What individual words stick out to you? Which words spark a universal feeling, and which seem to be “owned” by the American Goldfinch?
3. What are some of the things that are listed in this poem? What do these shortlists function as in this poem?
4. How does the poem ground the reader? Does it place us anywhere specific or give us specific imagery?
5. How does this poem show movement? Where does this poem move us as we read?
Prompts:
1. After choosing your species, create a list for each of the senses and come up with words that describe your species or use the "birdy verbs" provided as a starting point. Create a poem using “American Goldfinch” as a model or construct your own poem.
2. Think of the sounds of your species, or the sounds that surround your species, and focus on that. What would they hear or what noises would they make? How does your species move or what moves around your species? Use these sounds to create your poem.
3. Look at a few pictures of your species. What words come to mind when you look at it? What colors are your species? Think of comparisons you could make to help describe the look and shape of your species. How can you reveal the way this species looks through actions? Draw from all of your senses to create an "image" of your species in the form of a poem.
Bird Words:
If you'd like, use Cieplinksi's "birdy verbs" in your own poem.
Dip, swoop, fast, singing, searching, flailing, screaming, rush, flit, called.
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