Eats Writes Shoots

Living & Tasting Life's Passions

  • Home
  • Eats
    • Beer
      • Hopped & Bothered Reviews
      • Beer Reviews
        • Amber/Red Ale
        • Bitter
        • Blonde
        • Brown Ale
        • Farmhouse (Saison)
        • Pale Ale
          • India Pale Ale (IPA)
          • Double (Imperial) IPA
          • Imperial Black IPA
          • American Pale Ale
          • English Pale Ale
        • Lager
        • Scotch Ale
        • Seasonal and/or Specialty
          • Beer with Fruit
        • Stout
          • Imperial Stout
          • Milk Stout
        • Wheat Ale
        • Winter Beers
    • My CSA Challenge – 2013 Edition
    • Recipes
      • Appetizers
      • Breakfast
      • Baking
        • Dessert
          • Cookies
      • Drinks and Cocktails
      • Egg
      • Fish
      • Gluten-Free
      • Lunch
      • Mains
        • Asian
          • Thai
        • Barbecue/Grilling
        • Beef
        • Fusion
        • Greek
        • Italian
        • Lamb
        • Mediterranean
        • Mexican
        • Pasta
        • Pork
        • Poultry
        • Veal
        • Vegetarian
      • Preserves
      • Salad
      • Side Dish
      • Soup
  • Writes
    • Canadian Food Experience Project
    • Poetry
    • The “Benjamin” Project
  • Shoots
  • About the Author
You are here: Home / Writes / Poetry / GloPoWriMo (2019) / What did the Grouse Hear?

What did the Grouse Hear?

April 17, 2019 by Dale Leave a Comment

What did the grouse hear
as the Father talked to his Son
— what did it hear in the reassuring
speech, practiced over a glass of rye,
in the repetition of “I will always
love you”? Walking among the thin
ground cover, random and haphazard,
the mottled markings passed on
from grouse to grouse as a costume
knit of invisible-making feathers —
well, it stands invisible to all except
the boy who was brought on
these hunts because he can see —
better than 20/20 and while that makes
him a great bird-dog, a follower of heals,
he can see everything — he has to;
he learned a long time ago to see
so he can hide among the stripped
branches and in the shadows
of bigger things — and there studied
absorbed in an after thoughts
he has taken it all in, seen, and heard,
and become a part of the environment
something other than prey or unmade
stew. He studied, learned, and waited.

There he walks, searching the bush,
wanting to dash in and disappear
while listening to his Macintoshed
hero-figure, carrying the .22 across
his back with its refinished stock,
oiled by hand. “Son, it’s complicated —
one day you’ll understand” —
searching the woods for answers
for something that could possibly explain
the simplicity of selfishness
but all that comes is the salty welling
of glassy eyes which he fights,
fights hard, lest he be less than for failing,
to control his emotions, just fire off
a tear like he didn’t care who it hurt
“You’re too sensitive Son —
it’s not about you” and they both
sigh into a grassy path — one wishing
for a violence to correct the entropy
of this nuclear family in full fission.

He understood — there was no
understanding to be had; it didn’t matter,
it never mattered, it couldn’t matter
or he’d dissolve into space that was
the hours he waited for his Dad
to come home and just be, be, be,
hours late, dinner passed, scars
inlaid like Mother of pearl on a rifle,
be a presence and be a wall,
a brass shell, burnt with sulfur,
a barrier that just had to be,
and she would stop.

What did the grouse hear?
was it the oppositional voice
of a boy who shunned everything
about his father and who couldn’t say
fuck it — so said “I want to be
a game warden to stop people like
you who kill and hurt — just cause you can”
or was it the Son who wanted
to rise again with this Father
be his prize and his praise
“There, out of underbrush,
there — in front of us.”

What did the grouse hear?

Grouse on a Path

∞

Submitted as part of “National/Global Poetry Writing Month” (#NaPoWriMo #GloPoWriMo).
Today’s prompt:  write a poem that similarly presents a scene from an unusual point of view.
And for further inspiration, see  Lily Myers reciting/performing her poem “Shrinking Women.”

Global Poetry Writing Month - 2019 - Icon

30 Poems in 30 Days

All text and photography © Dale Schierbeck

…. more of my original Poetry on EatsWritesShoots here.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: GloPoWriMo (2019), Poetry, Writes Tagged With: childhood, conflict, father, GloPoWriMo, grouse, hiding, hunting, NaPoWriMo_2019, nature, nurture, Poem, Poetry, son, struggle

« Oh Pinot
Letting Go »

I would love to read your comments ....Cancel reply

30 Poems in 30 Days – Global Poetry Writing Month (2022)

  • A Love Song

    A Love Song
  • Chosen

    Chosen
  • Wormwood

    Wormwood
  • Bashert

    Bashert
  • Lumber Dog

    Lumber Dog
  • Aisling for the Land

    Aisling for the Land
  • Hard Boiled Boy

    Hard Boiled Boy
  • The Blasted

    The Blasted
  • Sense of Time

    Sense of Time
  • We Reflect

    We Reflect
  • A Family Grown

    A Family Grown
  • Fly — Away

    Fly — Away
  • Curtains

    Curtains
  • A Question Heard

    A Question Heard
  • The Storm

    The Storm
  • A Dis-Ode to the Mushoom

    A Dis-Ode to the Mushoom
  • Bun in the Oven

    Bun in the Oven
  • The world don’t owe you nothing

    The world don’t owe you nothing
  • the syrphid

    the syrphid
  • Osborne

    Osborne
  • Love is not a Word

    Love is not a Word
  • Meta

    Meta
  • Super-Pop

    Super-Pop
  • footprints on the sands of time

    footprints on the sands of time
  • Spring Grows

    Spring Grows
  • Neptune’s Recline

    Neptune’s Recline
  • Red Light, Green Light, Stop

    Red Light, Green Light, Stop
  • Wuthering Heights

    Wuthering Heights
  • Afterwinter

    Afterwinter
  • The Story of a Dog

    The Story of a Dog

Recent Posts

  • A Love Song
  • Chosen
  • Wormwood
  • Bashert
  • Lumber Dog

Join My Community

Simply enter your email address and never miss another post.

Join 827 other subscribers

2012-2022 © Dale Schierbeck.

All rights reserved. All material and content is the original property of Dale Schierbeck and “EatsWritesShoots” 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited. Links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author (“Dale Schierbeck”) and the site (“EatsWritesShoots”) and with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Connect with Me on Facebook

Connect with Me on Facebook

Top Posts & Pages

  • Recipe for Low-Phosphorus Dog Food ~ Caring for a Dog with Chronic Renal Failure
  • Homemade Super Dog Food ... aka Ben's Breakfast
  • Tuscan Chicken with Olives and Bacon ... and Wine
  • My Canadian Eyesight
  • Adjustments

Join the Conversation

  • mb on Ben ~ In Memoriam
  • Dale on Ground Beef Tacos
  • Nicholas Robert Parkes on Ground Beef Tacos
  • Molly on Recipe for Low-Phosphorus Dog Food ~ Caring for a Dog with Chronic Renal Failure
  • Dale on Chosen

RSS Feeds

RSS feed RSS - Posts

RSS feed RSS - Comments

Archives

Categories

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d