The Bobolink is a Spaz
What a silly little bird.
“The Bobolink is a member of the Blackbird family. It frequents grassy meadows of the northern states and adjacent Canada. Also referred to as “skunk blackbird,” the male has striking black-and-white plumage, making identification easy. Females are a buffy yellow-brown.”
I don’t think we have these in California.
The Way to know the Bobolink
by Emily Dickinson
The Way to know the Bobolink
From every other Bird
Precisely as the Joy of him –
Obliged to be inferred.
Of impudent Habiliment
Attired to defy,
Impertinence subordinate
At times to Majesty.
Of Sentiments seditious
Amenable to Law –
As Heresies of Transport
Or Puck’s Apostacy.
Extrinsic to Attention
Too intimate with Joy –
He compliments existence
Until allured away
By Seasons or his Children –
Adult and urgent grown –
Or unforeseen aggrandizement
Or, happily, Renown –
By Contrast certifying
The Bird of Birds is gone –
How nullified the Meadow –
Her Sorcerer withdrawn!
Dickinson loved bobolinks. She wrote several poems about them.






























