Tui: Bird of Adaption and Wit

There were three in one tree;

A banquet for a Tui.

Their beaks pushing through orange skin and juicy segments.

They did not expect a miracle.

But they made the most of it.

.

One sip and each a returnee.

Then another flew in.

Each bird ate in abundance and sang his happy clements

To the street: atypical,

None of them ready to quit.

.

They made of it a jubilee;

Their ample afternoon hui.

While we watched; marvelling at such different refreshments.

To your stories allegorical

The Tui’s adaption and wit.

.

Honey-eaters: what the Puriri?

Will Tui now be queuing

For their new-found, sweet dripping citrus indulgence?

Two voice boxes sing the oracle.

In an orange tree three Tui sit.

.

Benita H. Kape (c) 5.1.2022

• Tui – a New Zealand song bird. These birds amazingly have two voice boxes; very melodious.
• Hui – Maori word for meeting
• Puriri – a sweet flowering New Zealand native tree
• The did not expect a miracle. Line from “Black Rook in Rainy Weather” by Sylvia Plath.
• We are so used to seeing Tui, honey-eaters, in our sweet flowering natives. It was a surprise to find them in an orange tree having a feast. Glorious singing birds.

“Rimas Dissolutas” French Literature.

I followed the example given of Sylvia Plath’s “Black Rook in Rainy Weather.”

Quote: “A poem that rhymes and doesn’t rhyme. For instance, each stanza contains no end rhymes but each line in each stanza rhymes with the corresponding line in the next stanza – sometimes employing an envoi at the end.

Here’s how the end rhymes would work in a Rimas Dissolutas with five line stanzas.

(1-a,2-b, 3-c, 4-d, 5-e) (6-a, 7-b, 8-c, 9-d, 10-e) (11-a, 12-b, 13-c, 14-d, 15-e)

There are no rules for metre, line length, or syllables – except it should be consistent from stanza to stanza.” ends quote.