rhythmus

i am alone outdoors in our frozen back yard,
the first flakes of a snowstorm landing soundlessly.
all is quiet and still, no cars on the road,
no neighbors out walking,
no dogs barking.
as i carry food scraps to our compost bin
the hush is just barely disrupted —
a faint tapping,
a tapping that has rhythm and, soon, repetition,
a tapping that stops me in my tracks.
not alone after all!
instantly, my eyes and ears join forces,
scan for the source, discover a downy woodpecker
piercing the bark of our dogwood tree with great industry.
such sweet music, that tapping,
such sweet company, that personable redhead.
such a sweet throughline to kapiti,
my bright blue indoor companion of yesteryears—
so many times that playful parakeet perched
on my shoulder while i read aloud to jay
after meg and scott departed on the school bus.
so many times he pecked
at a particular pair of earrings fashioned
from two hollow porcupine quills
through each of which a slender silver shaft fit,
with beads at one end and an earring wire
at the other. such sweet music, that pecking,
such sweet company, that little bird.

i still wear those earrings,
their salty quills having long since
been kapiti-nibbled into delicate morsels.

quills long gone,
kapiti long gone,
backyard woodpecker now here,
tapping at life
in sync in sync in sync
with my heart.

—dotty seiter

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Notes about poem and art:
• “rhythmus” explores connection and impermanence, taps the rhythms and poignancy of life.
• I painted Walking Jane Home to give to a dear friend whose sister died recently. The process, for me, opened me to tap into the paradoxical and the bittersweet: the love and the loss, the celebration of life and the grief of its ending, the challenge of using tube watercolors for the first time (much to learn!) and the comfort provided by the combination of color palette and neurographic drawing.