Reincarnation Reboot

I fully retired in 2011. Over the years I had many interests that have since been helpful to fill my time now that I am retired. I began to spend time doing acrylic painting. Bob Ross’s The Joy of Painting came on PBS create channel every day at 12:30. I watched in awe, while eating my lunch, as he painted a whole painting in less than a half hour. I began to experiment with his painting techniques and finally found some success.
Little Chippie was a mourning dove who fell out of his nest too early. We began to feed him and he became like a pet, actually eating out of our hand. This was my last personal encounter with Chippie. As he got older he began to be more distant. We went on vacation for two weeks and when we returned he had adjusted to life in the wild. We were sad to lose the connection, but realized this day would come. You can read the original poem at https://wordpress.com/post/rothpoetry.wordpress.com/18410

I wrote a children’s book Little Chippies Big Adventure, which is also an e-book on kindle.

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Painting with my friend
Spring dove brought social closeness
Now the bird has flown

Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Kim at d’Verse asked us to go back and find an autobiographical poem and add prose and a haiku to it for Haibun Monday.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

For a preview of my story click the link below:

http://a.co/78yG5dH

January Birds

Cold weather in January always brings the birds to my feeder. They bring me a lot of joy as I watch them gobbling down the sunflower seeds and millet. The Red Bellied Woodpecker and Mourning Dove share the feeder together. This is nice to see since birds are often very competitive for the food. Perhaps we could learn from them how to get along.

Woodpecker and dove

Share my winter bird feeder

A lesson for all

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Kim at d’Verse asked us to write a Haibun that talks about January and all it brings with it. I love my winter birds so I chose to write this one.

Come join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Little Chippie

A year ago a little mourning dove fell out of the nest early and became attached to my wife and I. He would eat seeds out of our hand, sit on our shoulder and knee, and wait on the deck each morning watching for any activity in the house.   By the end of the summer he became more independent and would no longer come to us.  But, he still sits on the deck each morning and watches through the sliding glass door for us to wake up. It has been a really interesting experience.

Little Chippie

Little Chippie a mourning dove fell out of the tree

Landing on the cap of Bob sitting next to me

What a surprise he fell out of his home

A little squab only two thirds grown

Downy feathers on his tummy still showing

He landed on my chair arm not wanting to leave

I reached out to catch him as he flew to the tree

He slipped through my fingers and on my knees

Were his tail feathers and down fluttering on my sleeve

Oh no Oh gee what will he do now that he’s not in the tree

The poor little bird  has a naked tail Oh me

Will he sit and cry for his nest in the tree

He stayed around at the feeder he began to eat seeds

He ate out from hands and sat on our knees

We became his mother he allowed us to stay

He became our friend he did not fly away

A few weeks later he grew new tail feathers

Lost his down grew as handsome as ever

He came by one day as I worked on my painting

And sat on my shoulder while I painted he waited

Then flying off to the nearby tree

He never again came back to me

Now he is grown and brings round his friends

To eat at the feeder for seeds they do fend

One day this summer they came to the feeder

With a new little squab so good to meet her

Early in the morning when I come out for coffee

I look out on the deck where he still waits to see me

 Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Read my children’s book about Little Chippie on Amazon Kindle. It is free to those who have Kindle Unlimited. 

Click the link below to read:

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Chippies-Adventure-Dwight-Roth-ebook/dp/B017KTERMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481938134&sr=8-1&keywords=Little+Chippie%27s+Big+Adventure