Gravel Pit\nPond<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To land, the\nCanada geese <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ski onto the\ndiamond water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sixteen Mute\nswans, white <\/p>\n\n\n\n
as the\nOctober moon, convene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an oasis\nin winter, snappers <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and sliders\nrest below. Ring necked ducks <\/p>\n\n\n\n
splash,\ntipping their white bellies to the winter sun <\/p>\n\n\n\n
before\ntucking their heads to sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flashing its\nwhite cap, a Hooded Merganser<\/p>\n\n\n\n
signals the\nhen is his. The canvasback <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and redhead\nvisit in the harshest of cold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both swans\nand geese nest on the island, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
no squabbles\nover space. Spring brings <\/p>\n\n\n\n
flotillas of\ngoslings. Gray in their downy coats, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
they glide\nbehind their parents, oblivious <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the\nsnapper, its fist of a head <\/p>\n\n\n\n
barely\nbreaking the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spring warmth\nwhiffs on winter\u2019s breeze <\/p>\n\n\n\n
as ducks\ngraze the bottom weeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Days grow longer,\nthe breeding grounds call. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ducks, mostly\npaired now, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
wait for the\nwinds that push them northward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One night,\nperhaps by the moon, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
they leave\nthe pond to the Mute swans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
muddy\nriver poetry review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gravel Pit Pond To land, the Canada geese ski onto the diamond water. Sixteen Mute swans, white as the October moon, convene. It is an oasis in winter, snappers and sliders rest below. Ring necked ducks splash, tipping their white bellies to the winter sun before tucking their heads to sleep. Flashing its white cap,… Continue reading Gravel Pit Pond<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-published-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}