Chip Calls

Chip Calls is a new collection of “warbler” poems based on the following constraints:

1) acquaintance: add the bird to your “life list” before writing;
2) voice: listen to its song, translating rhythm and pitches;
3) plumage: note the bird’s color and pattern;
4) behavior: attend to habitat and details of foraging, breeding, nesting and migration;
5) range: name a far away place, since warblers link humans across hemispheres;
6) languages: include words from poets writing in the North as well as the South—warblers feed on both sides of the border;
7) nonsense: acknowledge that warblers are restless, hard to see, and give you a crick in the neck.