By Jerry Hall
Special to the Record
—
We have a winner in my bird poetry contest — Dee Tusch of San Marcos.
When I delivered her prizes — 25 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds, a pecan pie from Wimberley Pie Company and a copy of my book, “Chirps” — she told me her husband had suggested she write a poem from the bird’s point of view. She did and the result is this marvelous ode from a grackle at the H-E-B parking lot:
Dear Mr. Hall...
Scroungin’ the lot at
H-E-B,
I comes across this paper, see...
An I notes this contest ‘bout us birds
With all these prizes for rhymin’ words.
So I says to myself with my famous cackle
“This is right up your alley, old G. T. Grackle.”
Next I flies to my tree where I keeps my PC
And that’s why yer getting’ this e-mail from me.
Now first of all, and we both know it,
You had in mind a human poet.
But what if we cut out the middleman,
I win all the wonderful prizes...an’
Settle some debts with my seed-eatin’ pals
And share the pie with my favorite gals.
If you think there’s nothin’ in it for you,
Not true, as I notified a crew
Of media types for an interview,
Photo Op and a book signing, too.
Bring the loot to the parking lot around three
My office is in the crape myrtle tree.
G. T. Grackle
641 E. Hopkins
San Marcos, TX 78666
— D. G. Tusch (My agent)
She wants the book
To all you folks who entered this year, my heartfelt thanks. The entries were the best ever and it was awfully hard to pick a winner.
And by the way, if you’re wondering, as I was, what G and T stand for in the grackle’s name – well, duh, it’s Great Tailed. (You’ll recognize him in the parking lot — he’s the one eating pecan pie.)
