Who Made the Hummingbird?

by rusty allen
(richmond va, )

Did a shooting star, fallen through aurora's breath, fly to earth and burst into a thousand jewels?;

Or did a charitable goddess of precious sendings gift the world her emerald page?;
Perhaps a celestial diamond-cutter, one night in his starry chamber, break from making stars to fashion a little amulet of amethyst, then pluck a gateway flower and press its breath in thee and cast you free?;
Or was it in a dream, or on a waking, or in that ethereal threshold set between that a wing divinity crossed over into this worldly place to know these mortal plants to drink their earthly drink?;
Perhaps the flowers' granted wish that a speedy aviatrix arrive each day to whisper the news into each flower's ear;
A storybook wish and . . . Tinkerbell's playfellow?
A pinch of fairydust, and poof! in a palm of air the world held still?

Who made the hummingbird?

A Day at the Fleamarket

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

Just arrived on a podium of air
Stands a hummingbird auctioneer;
The bidding flowers gather round,
Await the bidding’s starting sound:
Little corked bottles of just-dropped rain,
And vases plenty new and old,
And flower food to sustain,
And garden tools, a spade a hoe.
But most of all the flowers here
Bidding on the auctioneer.

A Hummingbird at the Sunflower

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

Lured to a bright isle hooped in scent flames
she probes the ground for that well of hidden drink,
but a false oasis this other world betrays,
a starshot, and the emerald photon a light year away.

Cynosure

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

In all the itinerate geography of open and shifting space
she holds a fixed and existential center
toward which all the ambient world bends
just to see.

Upon Seeing A Hummingbird

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

Mortal looks set in hungry eyes
She feeds in darling spoonfuls.
And where other birds sate the
Sight they feed, she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies.

Precious Stones, Precious Metal

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

A pint of air her pilothouse
Wherefrom to stop and go,
Emerald, jasper, fushia and gold
Flash for the eye to hold.

Bee Botherd

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

She arrives at the Redtop Diner for Sunday brunch,
and there she wields her sharp javelin,
sparring with a knot of bees to win a chair.
But outarmed, outflanked and outbeed, she departs,
puts a circuit around the earth throwing time into arrears, detaining the bees in a pocket-lag of space, and, resting her breathed wings,
she leisurely, gleefully and beelessly dines.

Five More

by rusty allen
(richmond va)

The Evening Dance of the Hummingbirds
In the last few stagelights of the evening slanting beneath the darkening canopy of a magnolia tree, twin silhouettes fringed in luminous silver dance a silent ballet of gilded imagery.

Dwarf Magic
Sent from some obscure circle of dwarf magic in search of the ruby goblet, a tiny winged unicorn arrives, spies the reputed vessel, dips her javelin and savors the earthly liquor and never returns.

The Hummingbird’s Haberdashery
Clipped to the point of a twig, a rubythroated hummingbird finely attired: he wears a hood of black, and truly, a scarlet necktie flashing metallic brilliance, a perfect ring of white and all the rest, a chic cape of fine teal suede.

Dueling Hummingbirds
Cupid's littlest arrows, love-crossed, shoot the woundless air.

Dine ‘n Dash
Little bird with slender pick,
Tiny straw for nectar draw,
Made to sup from chalice cup,
Here, now gone, she banquets quick.

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