How

I do not know how it is possible
not to pause, to stop, to listen
when a single bird’s first notes
suddenly rise above the subtle hum
of the city’s opening or to ignore
the wonder when one spring day
descends unexpectedly to revive
this town in the midst of winter.
I do not know how to sing praises
as wholeheartedly as the throng
of crows gathered at the crown
of a leaf-barren tree whose cants
seem like cacophony to me
but must be the joyful noises
that they were made to sing.

I do not know how.

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Poet and photographer Margaret B. Ingraham was born in Atlanta, GA, and “grew up” exploring the woods behind her childhood home. She is the author of a poetry chapbook Proper Words for Birds (Finishing Line Press), nominated for the 2010 Library of Virginia Award in poetry; of This Holy Alphabet (Paraclete Press, 2009), lyric poems adapted from her original translation from the Hebrew of Psalm 119; and of a poetry collection Exploring this Terrain (Paraclete Press, 2020). Ingraham is the recipient of an Academy of American Poetry Award, a Sam Ragan Prize, and numerous residential Fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Ingraham resides in Alexandria, VA

[image: crows in treetops | samane mohammadi]