Xander as Masked Featured Reader… his story, Another Thing Coming, is currently being considered by a magazine so isn’t yet available. But other pieces of his are accessible through his blog http://pont-des-arts.blogspot.com/

Fear of Bird Flu

by Trudie Shannon

I used to be a twitcher.

Spent hours and days, weeks and years

Of my life

Watching ….. listening,

Observing, marvelling

At flight patterns, building techniques,

Parenting, community,

Apparent fragility, sheer power,

Utter beauty.

Attentive to morning symphonies,

Evening cacophoney,

Arias to the sun’s majesty

Ballads to the rising moon

And love songs that made my heart burn.

I was dedicated, love struck,

In a constant state of awe,

In the garden, at the roadside,

Beside the sea, within the woods,

Aloft the mountain tops.

.
But now we have bird flu

.

So, with body protection

Mask, gloves, boots and overalls

And a pellet gun

I am become a forensic bird stalker

An incipient killer

And my penchant

Wrens and skylarks which

I kill to save the world.

.
In the near vicinity of my home

The woods are silent,

On the foreshore no curlews call

And my garden is littered with redundant feeders

But, I rest easy in my bed

And listen to recordings of the dawn chorus.

Trudie (c) 2005