July 17, 2020
Photo by Jim Cornell
Hummingbird
A Poem by Jim Cornell
Have you ever tried to
Photograph a hummingbird
In flight
It flits, and jibs and jabs
Jumps and dipsy do’s
Sometimes to the eyes
Also, to the lens
Four wings appear to help
It hover there
A buzzing from the
Thrumming of its wings
Announcing its approach
From the bottom of
The bright red feeder
It will sip the
Proffered nectar
Either while in flight
Staying stationary in the air
Or sometimes it will alight
With the bumblebee
Neighbor there
In between it will
Fly away
To a nearby branch
To rest and monitor
For danger and competition.
Often there will be
A crowd of two or three
Not allowing one to pause
For long at the trough
Chasing each other
Around the deck
Oh what the heck
I keep my finger
On the shutter
Snapping furiously
To capture the elusive
Image that I seek
It is known that
Hummingbirds can see
In infrared expanding
On the colors of
Our world to
A part of the spectrum we
Humans do not see
And cannot easily comprehend
That there is more
To life than
What our limited
Senses can perceive
To submit your own photo or poem, email Assistant Library Director Brittany Taylor at btaylor@clamsnet.org