By Suzanne Simons
Birds and poetry go together like flight and soaring, feathers and color, nests and eggs. Bird poetry has been a popular focus of poets since pre-Biblical times. Its appeal lies in the beauty of language, memorable phrasing, rich imagery and relatable metaphor. With climate change, bird poetry has also become a way to broaden support for birds and the natural world by connecting practitioners and followers of the fields of ornithology, natural history, poetry and literature.
Below is a sampling of some favorite bird poetry collections, ranging from what is considered classical in the U.S. (white, European and American, mostly male) to contemporary volumes grounded in more diverse voices.
- A Bird Black as the Sun: California Poets on Crows and Ravens, Enid Osborn and Cynthia Anderson, eds., Green Poet Press, 2011. Crows and ravens as our fellow travelers, awakeners, enigmas, omens, likenesses, messengers and muses are reflected by a range of poetic styles and traditions in this collection of more than 80 poets, including poet laureates of California and the United States, and other poets of the golden state. They offer passionate, vivid, sometimes humorous, and surprising views of crows and ravens, these common yet mysterious birds, called “black as the sun” by poet Gary Snyder.
- Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds, Billy Collins, ed., David Sibley, (artist), Columbia University Press, 2010. High quality poetry meets Sibley’s astounding full-color illustrations. Each poem focuses on a specific bird by some of the best historical and contemporary poets and reflective of editor Billy Collins’ whimsical bent. Poets range from Henry David Thoreau to Linda Pasten and Olympia’s own Lucia Perillo. Evocative poem titles include “Sparrows Trapped in the Airport” and “You and I Saw Hawks Exchanging Prey.”
- The Conference of the Birds, Farid ud-Din Attar and Sholeh Wolpe (translator), W.W. Norton & Company, 2018 (reprint). Influenced by the great Sufi poets Rumi and Hafez, Attar is best known for this epic 12th century poem, a magnificent allegorical tale about the soul’s search for meaning. The beautifully illustrated poem recounts a perilous journey of the world’s birds, led by a hoopoe, to the faraway peaks of Mount Qaf in search of the mysterious Simorgh, their king. Considered by Rumi to be the master of Sufi mystic poetry, Attar has crafted a poetic tale of the soul’s escape from the mind’s rational embrace.
- On Wings of Song: Poems About Birds, J.D. McClatchy, ed., Alfred Knopf Inc., 2000. A pocket-size volume arranged in sections by bird habitat – backyard, barnyard, field and forest, water’s edge, birds of prey, flightless birds, nests and cages, bird songs. Individual poem titles are generally about specific birds, making it easy to peruse favorites. Works include some of Europe’s and the U.S.’ most noteworthy and mostly Caucasian poets of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Heaney and Margaret Atwood.
- Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays, Mary Oliver, Beacon Press, 2003. Beloved nature poet and Pulitzer Prize winner Oliver has crafted in this volume 26 poems about the birds that have been such an important in her life – hawks, hummingbirds and herons; kingfishers and catbirds; swans, swallows and snowy owls; her famous wild geese; and a particularly tender poem of a dipper: “…and thus the world is full of leaves and feathers,/and comfort, and instruction…” Evocative poem titles include “Such Singing in the Wild Branches” and “White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field.”
- Perch Poetry: Birds and their Houses, Steve Sammons, self-published, 2023. The relationship between birds and their abodes is brought to life through vibrant illustrations and playful verse. An ode to the avian world, this whimsical book includes colorful art and penned with a light-hearted touch. For readers of all ages.
- Poems About Birds, H.J. Massingham, Macmillan Collector’s Library, 2023. From the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, poets celebrate a variety of birds. They include Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” to Sylvia Lynd’s “The Return of the Goldfinches,” and from Tennyson’s “The Eagle” to Wordsworth’s “To The Skylark.” This annotated edition contains a sampling of British ruralist writer Massingham’s original collection which was first published in 1922.
- The Poetry of Birds, Samuel Carr, ed., Batsford, 2023. In this collection Audubon’s iconic birds illuminate, as well as illustrate, the poems by a swath of U.S. and European poets: Chaucer, Blake, Shakespeare, and Milton; Cowper, Wordsworth, Baudelaire, Tennyson, Keats, and Shelley; Hardy, Yeats, Laurie Lee, and Ted Hughes; Thoreau, Whitman, William Cullen Bryant, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Theodore Roethke.
- Poets Guide to the Birds, Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser, eds., Anhinga Press, 2009. Poets take center stage over birds in this anthology arranged alphabetically by poet. Includes a clever series of maps of the poets’ – not the birds – habitat and range. Many contemporary favorites in this volume, such as Sandra Alcosser, Wendell Berry, Hayden Carruth, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Ted Kooser, Naomi Shihab Nye and Natasha Trethewey. Poems include a few less commonly written about avian friends, such as the poorwill and eider duck.
- Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, J. Drew Lanham, Hub City Press, 2021. Renowned wildlife biologist and writer Lanham explores his passion with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds? Lanham’s collection includes listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders.
- Superlative Birds, Leslie Bulion (author) and Robert Meganck (illustrator), Peachtree, 2019. Avian science poetry for ages 8-12. This combination poetry/science book blends language arts and science into an informative and fun collection of poems about the fastest, smallest, biggest, and smelliest birds, as well as which ones have the most feathers and the biggest nest. Includes a science glossary, notes on poetic forms, and resources for more information.
Photo credit: Hoopoe, by Taratutniak. Public Domain.
