The first poem in my recent collection.
CHRISTENING There’s a bird where I live, that doesn’t bother to make its own nest, It doesn’t need a nest for children because when the time comes, It will lay its eggs in someone else's. The cowbird is such a deep black Color, it glistens, a neon sheen. But it will quickly lay its eggs in the Nests of red cardinals or speckled sparrows. The bird guide calls it a Parasite. I didn’t know a bird could be. I wonder if the other birds see It that way, the ones who raise the cowbird baby as their own. Does the Cowbird baby think anything of being fed, housed, nurtured by someone Without their slick features? Or do they carry an innate knowledge of the cycle Of their ancestors? I wonder if they’re smarter than the other birds-- Having lived with so many others. Maybe the cowbird mother knows All this and, in fact, bothers quite a bit–she’s making something else.
Originally published: A Mass of Feathers: Love Poems (Bottlecap Press, 2024)
Where it came from
As with many poems, this one came from an interesting bird fact. I think this was from the year I had taken a bird guide to western Pennsylvania out from the local library and would sit with my cat in the morning watching and trying to identify the birds at the feeder. The cow bird seemed so plain-looking as I started to learn about birds, but this idea of a bird that laid its eggs in other birds’ nests was intriguing so I explored it here.
As I played with the order of all the poems in the collection, I was looking for a starting poem that would bookend the final one. The title of the chapbook and the cover image ties to the mourning doves featured in The Shore and the delicate line between mundane and sacred. In the final poem, the image of the bird is—winged and wild. By contrast, this first bird is considered paradoxically as parasitic, intentional, nurturing, and neglectful.
You can purchase a copy of a Mass of Feathers: Love Poems here. It’s a joy to be able to share these.
My first taste of research was studying how cowbirds learn song at Indiana University in 1996. Not only do they lay their eggs in other birds' nests, but they also learn the songs of the host bird "family", which is quite unusual in aviary world.
Thank you for this poem, that brought back memories of working with these sleek, fascinating creatures, and also was a beautiful reflection on your observation.
Fascinating! And a beautiful, thought-provoking poem, thank you for sharing it Rachel xx