New Feeder by Scott Wiggerman

A hummingbird approaches, hovers, darts

away, the red-red feeder left untouched.

I check the recipe again: four parts

to one, water to sugar. Yes, I clutched

the feeder to its base. Uh-huh, I placed

it in a sheltered spot, some shade, some sun,

no movement, with sufficient breathing space

(observable from windows). Right, all done.

Nearby the coral yuccas beckon, vines

with ruby trumpets blare their scent: my poor

contraption stands no chance. Nature’s designs

top mine, no matter how I might implore.

And yet I google for more tips, convinced

I’ll choose how hummers pick their feeding stints.

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Scott Wiggerman is an Albuquerque author with three books of poetry, Leaf and Beak: Sonnets, Presence, and Vegetables and Other Relationships; and the editor of several volumes, including Wingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry and the NM/AZ Book Award-winning 22 Poems and a Prayer for El Paso . In 2021, he was inducted into the prestigious Texas Institute of Letters.