| Frank
Dickerson
Like Frost before him, Dickerson
makes an anecdote with a bird an emblem of man against Nature.
Just as Frost highlights the oven bird, Dickerson shines the light on an
English Sparrow.
ENGLISH SPARROW
I know some of your troubles
stout fellow:
how my neighbor
traps to drown you
how people tear
down your nests
how they begrudge
your eating
at their feeders.
You live in my bushes
and I see you from my kitchen window:
how you scratch
for seed
how you feed your
young
just flown from
the nest.
I like you, I welcome you:
I like your
bravado
your bib and
tucker
the stripe through
your mate's eyes.
You are my friend
passer domesticus
house sparrow.
You are welcome at my home.
Frank Dickerson's son-in-law, Peter
Swanson, adds the following note:
Yes, I was preparing to send a brief note to say that Frank Dickerson has passed away. It was a great source of satisfaction to him to have been honored last fall by the Foundation for his poem "English Sparrow." He was 88, and his death came unexpectedly. Thank you for promoting 'new' poets who carry on in Robert Frost's tradition.
Frank Dickerson,
former
vice-president of The Salzburg Seminar, has had his poetry published in
Hidden Oak and numerous local publications. Now retired, he lives in
Truro, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. His poem was awarded an
honorable mention in the 2003 Robert Frost Award.
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