Bird Nests Used to Look More Like Fortresses
by Martin Ott
(published in Press 53, Issue 139, OCT-DEC 2018)
My daughter just failed her driving test.
The cradle of the nest allows for easier
delivery of food and fledgling flight.
Worried about a call, a rude awakening.
My son just walked seven miles playing
Pokémon Go. The dangers of predators
can strike the hatchlings from any angle.
Worried he won’t look up in his crossing.
My wife just got her green card. The rules
of what keeps you close to loved ones
are in flux, flights to hunt for sustenance.
Worried a hawk can strike in customs.
I just learned about the degenerative disease
in my back. The aching of nerves, the notes
of birds outside keeping me sane on bed rest.
Worried about the cracked buttress of myself.
The back and forth between the speaker's personal family and various thoughts on bird nests (which gets more fluid as the poem progresses) starts right at the beginning. The title sets us up for a poem about birds. The first line is about the speaker's daughter. Two facts, connected by lots of alliteration with "f."
Worried about a call in the next line puts us back with the family. And now we learn something about the son. And my favorite line in this poem comes next:
Pokémon Go. The dangers of predators
A human game about imaginary animals, and we are still with the son. The next 4 words remind us of the dangers out there, looking for our children, looking for baby birds. And the next line brings us back to birds.
We go back to the son, and then the wife is introduced. Closeness and flight, hunting and hawks. Then we get a fact about the speaker, and his reason to worry about himself, after his worries about his family. As he lies in bed in pain, bird song brings him some joy.
The last line/last sentence, brings back the fortress of the title. The husband/father is the protector of his family, just as the nest is the protector of hatchlings. His recently diagnosed disease shows the crack in his ability to protect, and it also makes him look again at those bird nests. Are they really that strong? That sturdy? That safe? He thought he was and he is not, so maybe those nests aren't so great, either. And now the title makes sense!
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