Please join me in writing this bird story. Write the next segment, send it to me on twitter or through my email, and I'll choose among those sent in. The guidelines are: write in Haiku (5-7-5 syllable pattern) and speak to the beauty, tragedy, and the liberating possibilities of connecting our hearts to birds and one another (or just have fun and be creative and let's see what we can do together!)

A Liberating Bird Story

Once upon a time, yellow-rumped warbler flew north. Barred Owl became sad.

He did not know why. He only knew lost beauty. His hoot became faint

The pine warblers pined - where did their wise friend go to? He never left them

He became silent. The forest filled with delight. The buntings were back!

Owl perched above them, thinking of life and of death. Beauty never leaves.

Beauty comes and goes, as do buntings and warblers, as does life and death

Enlightened owl, flew off to the riverside, to perch in cypress.

Waiting for sturgeon, to jump and break the water. Just "this" and no more.

"Flashes of insight, come to fishers of all kinds," said Owl to Osprey

“What do you wait for?" Osprey quizzed the Strigiform. "The sturgeon’s too big!"

“It’s not the sturgeon, that’s too big to catch today,” prompted Barred Owl.

A boater came by. The birds drew their feathers in, and fumes filled the air.