Thursday, July 18, 2013

Nightjar


You can hear them,
like little ghosts
haunting the air at night,
though we don’t have
the blue note whippoorwill
in our evergreens.

If you’ve ever hummed a dry, lonesome aria
from your own warbling wind struck throat
you can hear them—
in the hollowed out whisper-choke,
strummed endless in black on wet pillowed nights,
haunted and hidden.

Yes, you can hear them, even here,
always, when you’ve known lonely,
so ink-dark and bled deep to bone.

Or maybe they can hear you.


© 2013 Jennifer Wagner



At dVerse host Tony Maude has invited us to write to any FFA or MTB prompt they’ve offered in the past.  I chose Victoria Slotto's Literary Allusion.  One of my all time favorite short stories is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.  I also love the haunting song Midnight in Montgomery by Alan Jackson.  Each work references the beautifully eerie call of the nightjar bird, the Eastern Whip-poor-will.  I have alluded to each work in my piece.  Happy year 3 dVerse! 

23 comments:

brudberg said...

Love that end..

Brian Miller said...

dang...when you have known lonely...and humming an aria of the dry wind of your throat....def a haunting little verse...have you seen the promos for the new sleepy hollow tv show...not sure on that one...smiles....

cool title, did not know that was another name for it...

brudberg said...

I have always wanted to hear the night-jar... sounds like an interesting and eerie call that would make my night...

Claudia said...

so ink-dark and bled deep to bone....this is wonderful... loved the images in the second stanza as well much..and really makes me curious to check out the links as well...

Mary said...

I hear them in your poem, Jennifer. I really hear them!

Anonymous said...

Both those stories are pretty dark - and you've kept that mood here, Jennifer. Nicely done.

Laurie Kolp said...

Love the ending!

Wolfsrosebud said...

a bit of mystery wrapped around your lines.... at first it was someone's hand in a cookie jar... LOL

Anonymous said...

Jennifer, this is so beautifully rendered. There's an eerie, yet peaceful play in this and I love the images you create. Kudos.

Janet Martin said...

wonderful play on the senses, Jen. I love Alan's song too.

Maude Lynn said...

As I read, I immediately thought of the Hank Williams song. This is beautiful.

Gina Gao said...

This is great! I really enjoyed reading this.

www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

Jeff said...

Some years ago, when I lived out in the woods, another nightjar species, the Chuck-will's widow, stayed in an old broken down oak tree 20 feet from the house. Every night during the summer I heard the mournful song. Thanks for reminding me of this, and for writing such a beautiful poem. Excellent!

Kate Solo said...

This is wonderful!! I love listening to birds on an otherwise calm night!! :-)

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully haunting...Excellent lines, Excellent poetry. :)

Grace said...

Love the whole piece Jennifer ~ The twist in the ending was good & unexpected ~

Maggie Grace said...

Beautiful writing. Adore the phrase "so ink-dark and bled deep to bone". Raw and awesome.

Dave King said...

I hear you.

Panchali said...

Sensitive characterization...awesome!

ninotaziz said...

Beautiful Jennifer. We are what we read, and love, aren't we?

Anonymous said...

haunting & with a beautiful use of language - i especially like
"If you’ve ever hummed a dry, lonesome aria
from your own warbling wind struck throat"
and the unexpectedness of the final line

Anonymous said...

Your ending liine was a punching end alright!

"Yes, you can hear them, even here,
always, when you’ve known lonely,
so ink-dark and bled deep to bone.

Or maybe they can hear you."

This was by far the most poignant stanza...i love how you formulated it !

ayala said...

Beautiful poem!