[Mark McDonnell]

Cormorants are magnificent birds (I'm happy to learn they are in some places called shags!)

That's the only thing I know about cormorants!

(Maybe this my means you can ignore my one nit, David. Christopher Isherwood's silly poem might not be as well known as I thought it was.)

[Rick Mullin]

Cormorants drying their wings is a devastating sight. Maybe they are shagging their wings.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

I love it, Cally lad!

It will be read to the granddaughter. (This is now my highest form of praise.)


Cally

[Phil Wood]

https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk...rant-and-shag/

As usual David, you layer a poem with authentic detail.

Enjoyed

Phil

[David Callin]

That's great. Thanks all. Very pleased this has gone down well.

Matters arising ...

I did wonder about the cormorant and shag line, Mark, but I think Isherwood (I had forgotten it was him) got it wrong anyway. They aren't different names for the same bird, just (slightly) different birds. And it's the slightness of the difference that is the problem. (Mrs C's shorthand check is that shags tend to hug the water while flying - although cormorants will do this too - and also that you rarely see shags inland. I am aware that I am straying into Benny Hill territory here.)

Phil has the details on that, I see. Thanks Phil.

I'm not a Catholic boy, Rick, but I regret the loss of those saints' days too. But not, perhaps, that of the saints. Residual Methodist boy thing.

Thank you Cally! I thing reading it to your granddaughter must be the highest form of praise. I am basking in it.

Cheers all

David

[Susan McLean]

David, I like the poem very much. Perhaps I am the only one who senses a dark shadow behind the brightness, but the mention first of winter and then of grasshoppers brought to mind the fable of the ant and the grasshopper.

Susan

[Joe Crocker]

A lovely little gem David.

Cormorants and Shags are v similar looking. Here is a v good BTO video on how to spot the difference. Grammatically, when you question "Cormorants -- or is it Shags?" it seems to me that you know what bird you have seen but can't remember what it (singular) is called. If you weren't sure about which species you'd seen you'd be more likely to say "Cormorants - or are they Shags?. It hardly matters though. Your description of them sitting as finials, drying their outstretched wings, is spot on.

And the grasshopers knitting socks is delightful.

[Matt Q]

Hi David,

Really nice, David. I especially like the first line, the grasshoppers knitting socks ready for the winter. There's a slightly melancholic feel, too, that I like -- nostalgia, perhaps. The metre is pretty irregular, with no two stanzas following the same pattern, but that's not a criticism. It works for me. I think the slightly "drifty" feel (technical term, there) seems apposite to late summer in a way that tight metre might not.

Something that nags at me is: "It is a sweet spot / in the calendar", since if we have no longer have saint's and saint's days, St Bartholomew's Day is no longer in/on the calendar. Or if it is, then surely we still have saint's days. I guess maybe the referent of "it" may be "this" and not St Bart's, and the poem is saying that late August is the sweet spot, but that's not really how it reads to me.

best,

Matt

[David Callin]

Belatedly ...

Thanks Susan. Yes, there is that sense of the thought of winter being present at the height of summer. And I see I have given some antlike qualities to the grasshopper too.

That is a good video, Joe. Thanks for that. Thinking about your grammatical point. I went for whatever seemed more idiomatic to me.

Ah, that's a nice point about that line, Matt. I'll turn that over in my head for a while.

Cheers all again

David

[Paula Fernandez]

You got me with this one. Beautiful and clever images. I did struggle on the first two reads due to mistaking the St. Bart's reference for the Carribean isle of that name (rather than the calendar reference which now seems obvious). Once I cleared the mental image of an island out of my head, the poetry sang. Another winner!