Photo: David Slotto
Northern Flicker
Summer begins to fade.
Trees share foliage with earth
Vegetable garden spills its seeds.
When he appears I hold my breath,
taken aback at beauty new to me.
Ruddy-headed, spotted Northern Flicker.
Summer begins to fade
but shares her gifts with us
even now.
Welcome back to the pub, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your break. Today, for dVerse Quadrille Monday, Grace is asking us to use the word FLICKER in a poem of exactly 44 words, excluding title. I write of the appearance of this woodpecker that I’ve never seen before in our region–a Northern Flicker. He surprised us last summer. I grabbed our bird book and David, the camera, and we got several photos of him. His visit lasted only a few minutes but he had his fill.
Victoria C. Slotto, Author 
Love poetry that’s attached to a personal photograph. Makes it more special. I would hold my breath also seeing that beauty and tip-toe quietly for my camera. š
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New bird to me too. We have a different kind of woodpecker here. Well penned bird-word š
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My first thought, too, was to celebrate the flicker as they are a favorite of mine, and I love to hear their drumming in the woods near me. Couldn’t make that use of flicker work, so went for the obvious. I loved your take on the prompt.
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Down here in the tropics we’re begging summer to go away so the northern birds will return!
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I debated writing about a Northern Flicker too, but couldn’t find the right words. Thank you for including this lovely bird!
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would make me hold my breath – lucky to have Flickers as inspiration
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What a pretty bird.
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I don’t like to think of summer fading, but I do love the Northern Flicker. We have them in our area and they visit our yard from time to time. Lovely poem about a wonderful bird.
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I love these birds..I have had many visitors this month. New every time, indeed!
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VERY late to my reading….on my second cup this morning.
Oh how I love this….especialy the first stanza. We always had gardens when we lived in Iowa…..this makes me nostalgic for them. I especially remember our bright orange day lilies dropping their seed, collecting them and planting them in new spots around our huge yard.
Of course I also remember our zucchini and pumpkin plants invading all other parts of our garden, their vines running amok like they were trying to cede all the territory from any other vegetables! š
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Aww.. so much beauty in simplicity. š
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What a surprise to find f(F)licker with wings!…A beautiful summer gift indeed.
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I want summer to linger for as long as possible.
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It’s such a wonderful gift even when the beautiful birds appear. It obviously lifted your spirits and you lifted ours
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I had to go look up this bird too, Victoria, and see that it pretty much lives in every state year round. And I learned that it is a quite large bird but I couldn’t tell that from your photo…what a beautiful capture. Surely your summer isn’t already fading…ours will last well into fall and maybe winter too. Way too long!
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This happened last year.
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Summer is only 3 weeks old here, barely mid-stream, far from the apex of heat, electric blue skies & long warm nights–so I love your poem, but I prefer to cling to summer as long as possible. In WA state, often we extend to Indian summer through September.
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We are still in summer with high 90’s as the median temp.
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Love the way summer can still share with us late in the day. Great capture of that here.
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Very nice! Love the wording here:
“Trees share foliage with earth
Vegetable garden spills its seeds”
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Most people wouldn’t even notice the ‘magic’ of the special visit. So much we miss. You captured a feeling that we have when we reluctantly have to ‘let go’ but that willingness enables us to see the magic and be grateful for the unexpected because we get that it’s all fleeting. Personally, I’m not really there yet but I see the importance of that understanding.
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Oh gosh he’s adorable!ā¤ļø Lovely share, Victoria š
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I too am new to this beautiful bird, gifted to me in your words (and your husbands fine photo.)
Summer fades too soon…
Anna :o]
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Wow, beautiful experience, so well captured in words and image.
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He’s a beauty! We have 3 different species of woodpeckers who visit our feeders, but I’ve never seen this fellow. Thanks for sharing. Your words were lovely.
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See- I had to go and look the bird up too…what a beautiful bird and celebrated well. XXX
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Such a pretty little bird to remind you of the fading summer š
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I didn’t know about a bird like this,.. great name, but sad that summer is fading,
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Thankfully, not yet. This happened at the end of last year’s season.
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Wow, what a beautiful bird ~ How lucky for both of you to marvel at these gifts ~ Lovely share and photo Victoria~
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Ha! Great minds. I, alas, had to go find a photo. Your husband does nice work. The Flicker has been a constant for me, living on the east side of the big river. Beautiful words to go with your beautiful photo!
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Beautiful poem of real experience (and beautiful image). I have lived with them since childhood… with a few exceptions. All woodpeckers are amazing!
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What a beautiful bird, Victoria. I’ve never heard of a Northern Flicker and now I’ve read your lovely poem and seen David’s photo.
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We have flickers down South too but they are huge. Another name for them is the Lumber God. This little beauty seems to be the size of our downy woodpeckers. I hope the poor little thing didn’t lay that huge egg! I love the last stanza. Yes, summer does freely share her gifts. What a miracle you saw this bird!
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he’s beautiful – i think i’ve never seen one here… i do hope the summer doesn’t fade so quickly – but yeah – the days are already getting shorter again…sigh
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“Ruddy-headed, spotted Northern Flicker” … I love the way you described his head and plumage. So pretty.
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What a treat Victoria, I had never seen a Northern Flicker before! I love how even a fading Summer still comes bearing beautiful gifts like these :o) xxx
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It amazes me how fast the summer goes.
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This is delicate and lovely
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