{"id":455,"date":"2024-05-20T19:16:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T19:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/?p=455"},"modified":"2024-05-20T19:16:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T19:16:54","slug":"paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a>Paradise<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; after \u201cThe Water Lily Pond\u201d Claude Monet<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the bridge of my paradise,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I watch the water lilies quilt together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The coots paddle among them,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>dive for wild celery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I remain still, they will swim past me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otherwise, they will paddle to a new opening<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>in the lily tapestry.&nbsp; The purple gallinule,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>with its long yellow legs and toes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>limbs that let it float<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>on the lily pads, joins the coots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the green-brown marsh grasses,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a marsh wren trills.&nbsp; I can only glimpse it<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>as it flits among the reeds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>gleaning for insects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sprinting among the pads,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the water bug floats on the surface,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>its feet making small circles as it oars about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decaying log holds the red painted slider<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>catching the sun.&nbsp; At the slightest movement,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>it will slip into the water. Lurking in the water,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the snapping turtle lies in wait. Dragonflies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>helicopter in the air as they scout for bugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evening looms, the sun purples the clouds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the pond closes to the day.&nbsp; Rafts of coots float<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>through the night, dragonflies and wrens hitch<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>themselves to the reeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But night brings new visitors to the pond,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the bull frog awakens to call across the water<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>for a mate.&nbsp; The raccoon and her kits<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>search for crawdads in the shallows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pond settles in shades of black, grey and white.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The night cools, the pond\u2019s guests arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Zephyr Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paradise &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; after \u201cThe Water Lily Pond\u201d Claude Monet On the bridge of my paradise, I watch the water lilies quilt together. The coots paddle among them, dive for wild celery. If I remain still, they will swim past me. Otherwise, they will paddle to a new opening in the lily tapestry.&nbsp; The purple gallinule,&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/paradise\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Paradise<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-published-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455","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=455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}