The Alan Sondheim Mail Archive

Mockingbird mobbing a hawk, red-tailed or -shouldered

http://www.alansondheim.org/mockinghawk.mp4
This is in the middle of urban sprawl; if you slow the
video up,* you can see the hits. Couldn't identify the
hawk but given the location it's one or the other. The
mockingbird's protecting its nest; it finally flew off.
(Why do I side with the mockingbird? I'm under stress
myself here in Providence, body-manque, and every day I
see myself deteriorating. I live in hate, in adrenalin,
in anxiety. Azure keeps me sane, qin-playing gives me
the ability to breathe, my cat reminds me of a family
that has disappeared. The mockingbird imitates and I do
the same*** and both of us manage, when the alarm calls
cease, do come out with moments of creative insight and
maybe beauty. And maybe not. Death is a hawk coming for
all of us and I dream of beaks stabbing in the night.**)

* Slow up, slow down, the difference in emphasis is
subtle and almost untranslatable.
** Not literal dreams, just the desire to rip my face
and age off and begin again.
*** I'd like to imitate but ADD leads me astray and I
end up in new lands.