If birds could write, which bird
would write like which author.
The Osprey would clearly be Hemingway
knowing the sea, but with no need for an old man.
The common Gallinule might become
Billy Collins, an easy laugh and always entertaining.
The crows could be so many writers
attending workshops, all still looking
for a voice to express themselves without
causing their audience to turn away.
The great egret could well be Alice Munro
creating beauty without need for intensity
her audience content to watching her do little
and the cattle egret would be David Sedaris
mining that the detritus of the world for that
short, ever pithy humorous twist.
The Sandhill Crane, Murakami
always with a strange tale, and
as are all cranes, ever so Japanese.