Aeronautes saxatalis
White-throated swifts
Ann Seiferle-Valencia
There are all the usual things
to say about
white-throated swifts,
such as: they are elegant
and quick and carve
effortless parabolas
out of the high desert sky,
the white blazes
on their throats like
miniature clouds,
their bodies like split-tailed
boomerangs or arrows.
Or that they make their living
an entire life possibly spent
in flight. Or that they have
adapted unusual feet so that
they can land, ever so briefly,
on the vertical surfaces
upon which they build
their spit-constructed homes.
But every description of
these beautiful birds that I have read
leaves out something essential.
The white-throated
swift is a fleet reminder
that life can be
simultaneously
difficult and effortless.
No description includes
what must be said:
if you have pain or grief,
take it to the desert
and try to hold onto it
as you watch these
birds carve open the sky.
Let your eyes
follow them.
Watch them climb,
the strength in their wings
taking them upwards.
And then, as they
let go and descend
in their perfect arcs,
feel your own body,
solid as always,
still resting on the earth,
becoming lighter
as they wing their
way across
summer clouds,
leaving you
pleasantly empty
of what you were holding,
pointing the way back
to your own easy
wild-winged grace.
~~~~~
Ann Seiferle-Valencia holds a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University and is currently the Curator of Latin American Art at the Tucson Museum of Art in Tucson. She loves poetry, nature, animals, and black tea.