Comments on: HUMMINGBIRDS • by Steve Goble

By: Oonah V Joslin

Oonah V Joslin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:07:59 +0000

and I like hurry blurry becasue it describes perfectly that ’so fast it’s a blur’ of the wings and the seemingly perpetual motion of the bird.

By: Amy Corbin

Amy Corbin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:32:30 +0000

Very nice.

By: Gray

Gray — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:29:21 +0000

Very Nice Indeed. I can see the hummingbirds as I read it. Delightful and fresh.

By: Joan

Joan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:58:59 +0000

I love it! The form of this is exactly right – I can feel the little birds!

By: dj barber

dj barber — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:44:09 +0000

Nice.

–dj

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:19:00 +0000

Thanks, all. I appreciate all the comments, and I’m really pleased that some of you enjoyed it that much.

I hear you, Paul, but I like “Hurry blurry” both for the rhyme and for the description.

We have hummingbirds that visit the flower garden just outside our living room picture window. They flit there, then zip to the flowers over by the side porch. My wife is the champion hummingbird spotter in our family. She’s almost always the first to hear that whirring sound and then find the hummingbird.

By: Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:31:05 +0000

Roberta got me thinking on this one again after her incisive observation.

That penultimate line still jars to my ear, but what about ‘hurly-blurry’, thereby combining the frenetic flapping of the wings with the blurred motion and ?

Just a suggestion. I’m sure Roberta has something more to say on the matter.

By: Roberta SchulbergGoro

Roberta SchulbergGoro — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:53:45 +0000

This poem is truly great. Delightful. I love it. I particularly like the next-to-the last line. As we all know, even those whose knowledge of wildlife is only through motion cameras, humming bird’s wings are entirely blurred when they hover. A lesser poet would have trouble finding exactly the right two words to fit to the poem. But I like all the lines. I don’t like name-comparisons much, but it’s Shakespearean delight. Yet I assume it’s completely original. It deserves more than a five, but one can only give what one’s got. Again, BEAUTIFUL. One of my all-time favorites.

By: Robin Herrnfeld

Robin Herrnfeld — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:28:17 +0000

Lovely close-up of a summer day.

By: PSC

PSC — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:19:45 +0000

Sweet, Steve! How I yearn for some of that warm sunny weather that brings out those hummers!