thirst for survival
by Douglas J. Lanzo
drenched fledging great dusky swift
pierces waterfall
This sciku was inspired by watching the “South America” episode of the BBC series Seven Worlds, One Planet narrated by David Attenborough.
It shows how great dusky swifts build nests protected by the waterfalls from hawks and other birds of prey, which nests get flooded from dam releases upriver of the spectacular Iguazu Falls (on the Iguaçu River). The torrential dam releases sometimes force the parent great dusky swifts to have to abandon their fledglings, who unless they can escape from the torrents and fly through a massive cascading curtain of water into the sunlight, will either starve or plummet to their deaths. The poem recognizes the courage and tenacity of the fledglings who attempt to breach this waterfall curtain and succeed in doing so.
Further reading and watching:
‘Great dusky swifts: A leap of faith’, 2019, Seven Worlds, One Planet, BBC, available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07tcnyf
‘Protectig a South American wonder of the world: Iguazú Falls’, 2019, Webster, J., BBC, available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5MbnkmwJmQ1zpTrksTVRSmF/protecting-a-south-american-wonder-of-the-world-iguazu-falls
‘Great dusky swift’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_dusky_swift
Author bio:
Doug is an award-winning American author and poet of over 500 internationally published poems whose debut novel The Year of the Bear won the Ames Award for YA Books and whose second book I Have Lived was named American Book Fest Novella of the Year. His Author’s website is www.douglaslanzo.com.