Cries Of Extinct Birds Poem by gershon hepner

Cornell, most succinct,
has recorded a hoard
of birds now extinct.
What we can’t afford
to keep live and well,
we study, like laws
that Calum Cornell
has made the clotheshorse
for Genesis legends,
extinct as a bird
like carrier pigeons,
flightless, but heard.

Inspired by a poem by Robert Crawford in the TLS, January 18,2008. The poem follows a poem by this poet called “After Gaelic”:

Chorus

It was a bad sign when the sung
Ballads were written down
So one rich man might own
A people’s songs;

And now I’ve heard that at Cornell
There’s a recorded heoard
Of cries of extinct birds.
If earth is ill

And local sights and sounds will drown,
Still down downloads again
Freely for everyone
Uncosted song.

Dedicated to Calum Carmichael whose studies on the relationship between biblical laws and narratives inspired my own.


1/25/08