By Ken Allan Dronsfield
A flash of color moves across the emerald canopy.
A long beak, like a sunrise, is poised among broad leaves.
Eyes alert while surveying the tangled vines of green.
Night’s humidity lingers on their glossy clean feathers.
They perch on ancient branches, guardians of morning.
Cacophony rises—a language unknown to humankind.
Beak dips into a cluster of berries, patient and deliberate.
Clouds drift, hiding the sun, but the toucan remains vivid.
Wings shift, feathers ruffle, stirring the lazy afternoon air.
Each movement echoes a memory of rain, in stoic repose.
The jungle holds its breath as insects begin their chorales.
The valiant toucan, indifferent, continues its daily journey.
Ken Allan Dronsfield is a disabled veteran and prize winning poet from New Hampshire, now residing in Oklahoma. Ken’s been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize and seven times for Best of the Net. He was First Prize Winner for the 2018 and 2019, Realistic Poetry International Nature Poetry Contests. Ken loves his country, shooting at the range, writing, thunderstorms, music and spending time with his family and rescue cats Yumpy and Gynx.
Academy of the Heart And Mind 