Sunday 11 May 2008

b is for blue



The Blue Booby
by James Tate

The blue booby lives
on the bare rocks
of Galapagos
and fears nothing.
It is a simple life:
they live on fish,
and there are few predators.
Also, the males do not
make fools of themselves
chasing after the young
ladies. Rather,
they gather the blue
objects of the world
and construct from them
a nest—an occasional
Gaulois package,
a string of beads,
a piece of cloth from
a sailor’s suit. This
replaces the need for
dazzling plumage;
in fact, in the past
fifty million years
the male has grown
considerably duller,
nor can he sing well.
The female, though,
asks little of him—
the blue satisfies her
completely, has
a magical effect
on her. When she returns
from her day of
gossip and shopping,
she sees he has found her
a new shred of blue foil:
for this she rewards him
with her dark body,
the stars turn slowly
in the blue foil beside them
like the eyes of a mild savior.




and here is where i borrowed that gem

4 comments:

  1. blue...I could be won like thus.

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  2. Are you here?
    Are you there?
    Seems to me you're everywhere!

    Looking forward to catching up in person soon. Hope to take you up to Trash Palace and around and about when you get here. Your trip looked like a fun botanical adventure. Arohanui e hoa.
    Rachelle

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  3. back on the farm grubbing up gorse now. looking forward to hopping across the ditch again in August, can hear singing in the distance...will be good to catch up.

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