1. Read the poem 

2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

4. Use the selection of prompts below the poem

5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

Bird Bath 

Only this 
matters: this ecstatic 
baptism

this standing on stick- 
thin legs where the singing 
creek pools at the lip 
of the waterfall

only this 
ruby-feathered 
chest diving to meet 
its reflection

this beak piercing 
again and again that quivering 
surface, these wings half-
unfolding, a ruffle

of joy guiding rivers 
of light a tumble 
of droplets dressed 
in rainbows along your hidden 
spine

shattering all 
decorum beneath 
blue branches in quiet

assent…

—Elizabeth Reninger
https://elizabeth-reninger.com

Note: Next Read Around is:
July 23, 2021 at 4:00 PM PST

My Thoughts

There is incredible potential for insight in the simple act of observation, especially observation of acts in nature. The poet, Elizabeth Renninger, observed a red-breasted bird bathing itself at the edge of a creek near a waterfall and dives into a beautiful poetic reflection of the moment. Animals may lack the cognitive architecture to live in metaphor, but are granted the gift of living in the world intimately. To the bird, only the act of bathing in the moment matters; to the poet it is an ecstatic baptism. Reninger anchors the poem in sensory detail using the word “this,” which  identifies the reader or listener with the bird in the “baptismal” act of bathing. Her description of how the bird dives into its own reflection, piercing the surface, deepens the imagery of renewal and rebirth. The poem is so poignant in its simplicity that it disarms the reader; so joyful in its expression that it invites the reader to step into the moment fully. If you really allow yourself to feel “this ruby-feathered chest” or “these wigs half-unfolding,” you will become the bird, joyously splashing water into the air.

Spoiler Alert:
I suggest reading the following thought after
reading the poem to enjoy it as it lands in you.

Reninger ends the poem with a phonological ambiguity in the word “assent.” It is spelled to mean an expression of agreement as if the whole of nature says “yes” to the bird’s bathing. But it also sounds like “ascent,” which is to climb or rise up, adding another layer to the metaphor of baptism as an act of spiritual elevation. This is the image that initally came to my mind when reading the poem. The double take, for me, was realizing it was not spelled to mean rise up, but spelled to mean affirmation.

Prompt Menu

1. Take something in nature or an act of an animal and compose a poem about it. As stretch, include sensory detail using the word “this” to encourage identification with the experience.

2. Use the phrase, “Only this matters:” as your pormpt and write whatever comes to mind.

3. Recall what was an “ecstatic” moment in your life and use that experience as your prompt.

4. I have often been struck with a bird’s ability to stand, and even sleep standing, on one “stick-thin” leg. Take that image as a prompt or find some other iconic image from nature to serve as a prompt.

5. Write a poem about a waterfall.

6. Write about your own reflection and how you might dive into that reflection to both shatter it and/por reveal something behind the reflected self or underneath it.

7. Write about a joyful moment in your life or write an ode to joy.

8. Think of a time when you felt the world was saying “yes” to you.

9. As usual, write about anything else in the poem or in life that inspires you?