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MURMURATION (Marazion Marsh)
O.M.G! I’m in the M.M.E!
I just want to shout out in the street,
“We’re the best this side of the Tamar!
We’re the Marazion Marsh Elite!”
My name is Clarice and I’m a star
Lingering long and light in the air.
One among legion stood in the wings
As we wait for our grand premiere.
Murmuration…murmuration
Languid like liquid pro quo
Murmuration…murmuration
Balletic nature on show.
I was spotted out at Crows-an-wra
By impresario Josef S.
He hoped to take me under his wing;
How could I say anything but…‘Yes!’
He asked me how much I wanted it;
All the glam…the glitz…and the glory.
“It’s all hard work – no gain without pain
And we’ll need a good hard luck story”
Murmuration…murmuration
When someone asks you to dance
Murmuration…murmuration
Why would you pass up the chance?
Me? I just want my kids to be proud.
“Mum’s got talent!” I want them to say.
Maybe my man will then understand
That I’m not just an eggs factory.
And Nan has never been quite the same
Since her brush with a cat in a bush
Which has left her blind in her right eye
And strangely susceptible to thrush.
Murmuration…murmuration
She’ll give it the best she can
Murmuration…murmuration
She’s doing it for her Nan.
As we assemble in the reed beds;
Everyone’s energized from the start.
A kindred spirit communion;
Each of us yearning to play their part.
Twitching, switching synapses and nerves;
Making contacts; seeing hopes spiral.
A green room of chattering starlets;
A twitterfeed set to go viral.
Murmuration…murmuration
A linked-in printed circuit
Murmuration…murmuration
Now get out there and work it!
And then up in the air as we must
Jockey and jostle for position.
A child’s first drawing transforms into
The fluid of inked-in precision.
Each eager eye’s locked on the next one;
Elastic ease of aerial grace.
Watch as we constellate through the sky;
Starlings starring in spirograph space.
Murmuration…murmuration
Despite the cold and the damp
Murmuration…murmuration
An avian lava lamp.
Amused by the efforts of others
Who mimic our grand exaltations.
Jackdaws, pigeons would labour in vain;
We’d laugh at their fail imitations.
But doesn’t pride come before a fall
And like Icarus I flew too high.
A point that was not lost upon one
Josef S and his discerning eye.
Murmuration…murmuration
Her fifteen minutes of fame
Murmuration…murmuration
She’s edited from the game.
But all that happened a year ago
Since Josef S announced his purges.
And coming down is the hardest thing
When quelling those star-stricken urges.
Why d’you have to put stars in my eyes
Is the bumper birdseed bag question?
I’d do it again in a wing beat;
If somebody made the suggestion.
Murmuration…murmuration
Perpetual emotion
Murmuration…murmuration
For each drop in the ocean.
Like a tax-evading accountant
“We’re making the numbers up, darling.”
It is time to be that wise old owl
Instead of just another starling.
Like those dancers in North Korea;
We’re filled with the joy of perfection.
When everyone is just the same
Then who has the need for reflection?
Murmuration…murmuration
If you occupy the mass
Murmuration…murmuration
It stops whispers in the grass.
Murmuration…murmuration
How best to put it in words?
Murmuration…murmuration
It’s Strictly…for the birds.
© gray lightfoot
Hear Gray read the poem…
A video of starling murmuration and roosting at Marazion Marsh (Long Rock)
And for a sense of how excited the starlings get pre-performance; check out this video…
JUST JACK – STARZ IN THEIR EYES
