This is December, as much or more than decorations and presents. This, plus oak leaves scuttling across a crust of snow, the dark silhouettes of winter trees, and heavy purple clouds hinting at the possibility of more snow later.
Linda has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at A Word Edgewise.
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(Junco photo via Unsplash.)
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Your poem and the paragraph below uplift me with the beauty of the images and remind me that beauty (and poetry) is found in presence. Thank you, Mary Lee!
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I’m trying to remember to keep my feeder full. We don’t get junkos here, but I’m watching chickadees, titmice, and cardinals. And today’s poem includes a white egret. Ah me, aren’t birds the best prompts for poems?
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Lovely Junco poem Mary Lee! We‘ve been feeding the junco’s too, a pleasure to have them mixed in with the sparrows, 💙 their dark feathers contrasting with the white! I think your paragraph below your poem is another rich poem, thanks for the sensitivity in both!
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Ah, the glorious colors of December! Not gray but panda-snowy, cracked-golden, and purple! Thank you Mary Lee.
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I was just observing some juncos at the feeder this morning, Mary Lee! Thank you for all the lovely images.
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Thank you for the reminder to get some birdseed! We have had some circle of life events around here (preyed-upon baby squirrels and a drowned bird) and I am still getting over them. Juncos and titmice would help. xo
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Love that photo of a junco…so cute! The line that steals my heart is that, “glorious mess.” Isn’t it though?
Wonderful. Thank you for sharing some of your December Ohio with us.
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I love your junco poem! They are year round residents here. They also are frequent nesters in the spring, particularly enjoying our handing pots.
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Aw, juncos. What a good way to commemorate their arrival, with a poem.
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I’ve had them all, Mary Lee, but the suet is in a cage, so no mess, though the bluejays seem to call mid-morning at the feeder & scare everyone away! I love your wonderful snapshot of December.
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Our suet is in a cage, too, but the bigger birds fling out little bits that are perfect for ground feeders like the juncos!
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Mary Lee, your poem introduced me to Juncos. I imagine them looking something like a plump sparrow. There arrival is often considered a portent of more snowy weather -from my subsequent reading. Thanks for extending my knowledge and providing me with a weather update. Stay warm.
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I miss seeing juncos and all the other birds that usually congregate around a feeder (which we’ve given up putting out because of the squirrels) — but I can enjoy them here thanks to your lovely poem and image. 🙂
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Oh, I love that glorious mess!
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Juncos are mainstays at my house, too, although I don’t have a feeder or suet anymore because of bears. I just scatter the seeds on the ground. The birds are still happy and the bears can’t be bothered.
I love the poetic paragraph accompanying your poem, especially those “heavy purple clouds.”
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I’m a big fan of juncos and that saucy white flash of tail feathers as they take flight! I’ve been enjoying the birds at the feeders so much. We moved our suet close to the house (to avoid the nighttime gluttony and thievery of some other creatures–I’m looking at you, raccoons!) and where hummingbirds feed in summer, we are now enjoying watching woodpeckers feed up close. I can lose hours at the window…Thanks for sharing your lovely poem and that poetic paragraph beginning with “This is December…”, which, by the way, would make a lovely prompt.
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