Patricia M Osborne

Due to some let downs with the Tuesday Guest Feature, not being fulfilled for one reason or another, I thought I’d share my poetry sequence Survival of the Lesser Flamingo which was inspired by David Attenborough’s, A Perfect Planet (BBC One Series) and Huw Cordey’s book, A Perfect Planet. The poetry sequence was published with Dreich in 2022.
I hope you enjoy it.

Survival of the Lesser Flamingo

Patricia M Osborne

Inspired by David Attenborough’s ‘A Perfect Planet’ (BBC One Series)

1.

A cloud of pink specks

becomes a ballet of birds

as they dance

            down

            to bright-red

            volcanic Lake Natron

            in groups of ‘Vs’ passing

            Tanzania’s Mountain of God.

The flamboyance of flamingos congregate

in soda crust rafts. They march in unison,

            turn their heads

                                     from side to side

            seeking a mate.

Standing behind a female,

the male flaps his wings

to balance his spindly limbs

as he mounts.

Barks and snarls fill the air–

crouching hyenas bare

bone crusher teeth

at the out-of-reach prey

guarded by a burning liquid ring.

Scooping wet clay with their bills,

parents-to-be build a concave

salt-brine mound to keep the egg safe.

She squats in the hollow,

lays an oval egg, stands, preens,

spreads her wings

and makes space for the male

to take his turn to incubate.

2.

A short pale beak peeps out. Azrael,

the chick, grunts. Shedding the cracked

vessel, he reveals soft downy

grey feathers and swollen pink legs.

His parents lower their scarlet bills, drip-feed

‘crop milk’ into Azrael’s opened beak.

When he bounces around the nest, his parents

know it’s time for him to leave and join

the ever-growing chick crèche.

Speeding to a sprint, Azrael trips, falls

on his head racing fellow flaminglets.

He flaps grey-plumaged wings, runs,

kicks his feet off the ground, stumbles,

tries again until lifting himself at last

into the air, flying high.

Feeding on Spirulina blooms

in salty Natron borders, Azrael’s

plumage and eyes turn deep pink

from the rich protein, glucose food.

The middle of the lake dries out,

pushing the chicklet colony to move.

Azrael follows the procession,

marching on foot for miles, as chicks

of all sizes seek freshwater springs.

Trekking sharp soda surfaces

and sticky caustic mud,

Azrael keeps up with the crèche,

stragglers left behind.

3.

Azrael peers up at the clouds,

a muster of storks hover, forcing

the young colony to move faster

out of danger’s way.

Tiny chicklets linger at the side

of the crèche to avoid being trampled,

but Azrael pushes to the centre, hides

from the phalanx of marabou as they sweep

up dawdlers and swallow them whole.

4.

A parade of flaminglets

prance in formation

into the freshwater spring–

millions of flamingos

greet their young.

Adult flamingo pairs dive,

claiming individual chicks.

Azrael grunts. He lingers.

One couple detect Azrael’s

call, fly down to the flaminglet.

He squeaks, opens his small beak,

they lower their dark red bills

and drip-feed Azrael ‘crop milk’.