the open portal

woodpeckers out the window!

yesterday wild turkeys pulled the lens of my caring into focus,

today it’s two magnificent pileated woodpeckers

whose world and ours intersect for a time,

as they choose to do their thing

at the base of a sycamore tree

fifteen feet from the window of the cabin,

this large portal within which we can touch the forest outside,

I had stood up and tied an old trunk to the sycamore,

a trunk holed-out by woodpeckers years before,

the old hole intrigues these new birds,

somewhat like checking out a possible home,

I snap picture after picture of them

as heads swivel and peck,

their beaks touch as if sharing a treat,

and they interact as if a pair,

for years pileated woodpeckers to me

have been a loud call in the distance

and a quick flash of flight, always away from me,

I still contend that we humans need 

to ground ourselves in the world without us,

for only then is there firmness to where we stand,

if there is clarity to the lens we use as we look out,

there is more likely to be clarity and sureness as we look within. 

by Henry H. Walker

June 24, ’14