Counting Birds On My Front Porch 

Counting Birds On My Front Porch 

That’s two hundred swallows, it must be, (200) 
Nine mallards chasing their lust free, (9) 
Four sparrows in street dirt get dusty, (4) 
And across the lake in the brush, I can just see 
One heron so stark-still he trusts me. (1) 

Six geese gliding doubled in lake green, (6) 
Two mourning dove songs awakening, (2) 
The two wrens in the birdhouse won’t take liens, (2) 
And one cormorant smiling and swearing to make me  
Convinced all this ain’t no fake scene. (1)

Six grackles get loud in my back yard, (6) 
Four robins striving — don’t slack hard — (4) 
In bird economics – no black cards —  
And the starlings won’t stop cuz they stack bars, 
Rolling deep, at least three hundred attack lords. (300)

One red wing sings out his best three notes, (1) 
And twelve sea gulls open wide free throats, (12) 
Sing out chanties they learned out on sea boats, 
And in floating on wind gusts, an osprey votes (1) 
For me to deliver this keynote: 

Five-forty-seven, five-forty-eight, five-forty-nine… (549)

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You can listen to me read it here
https://soundcloud.com/benwhitepoetry/counting-birds-on-my-front