PART 3 | Field Notes of Wonder: poetry series with poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil, ft. Hummingbirds

For our next installment of Field Notes of Wonder: a poetry series with New York Times Bestselling poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil, we’re featuring nature’s gems: hummingbirds. As part of the series, Audubon commissioned 4 new poems all themed around birds and wonder! Hummingbird   Green like bottle glass, or a beetle’s back I once tried to carry in my palm—you arrive because of a rumor of sugar, a bright idea hummed from honeysuckle you remember from last year. Your sound stitches the air before I can see you. There you are, pebble-hearted miracle— wings dazzling even the salty wasps lurking overhead. How much sweetness does your body this slight gather in a day? How much sweetness can we store to manage winter? I remember a mango split open on the counter in the kitchen of my childhood, sticky wrists, and my young parents’ laughing in the background. How something sweet held a second longer on the tongue reminds us of all the ways a summer day asks us to taste it fully. Stay, I almost say out loud, as if you could answer yes—but instead you offer me a shimmer-shimmer— another summer memory I hope to hold.   The National Audubon Society is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. We protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Don't forget to follow us on social! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalAudubonSociety/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/audubonsociety/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/audubonsociety