Bird Song Therapy
Stop! Listen! What’s that Sound? Everybody look what’s flitting round! *
Birds! Hear them? See them? Now, in this time of CoVid-19 mandated Lockdown, with most human-made noises stilled and human activity slowed, Birds are everywhere! (Or were they always everywhere and we were too busy to notice?) I’m noticing now!
There’s something therapeutic about watching birds flutter and flit about, calling to each other—especially now when we humans are trapped in our cages and the birds are free. For today’s post, let’s send our imaginations winging with the birds.
Position yourself in a quiet spot with your eyes and ears tuned to the world beyond your window and listen to the birds. What are they singing about? Are they greeting each other? Squabbling? Sharing news of the world—just learning to tweet?
See if you can track the bird songs to a specific bird or clump of birds. If not, close your eyes and imagine yourself amongst the birds.
Write a poem about what you’re seeing—and most especially hearing.
Incorporate the sounds and rhythm of the birds into your poem to make it sing!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1400 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Join Audubon Alaska’s Bird Poetry party. Each week a new bird poem prompt is posted. Try it! Submit it! Submissions will be published. And, what’s more! Each week’s poems are mashed to create a collective poem. #AudubonAlaska