The Pleated Woodpecker (aka The Pilly Wood Wacker)
by Ben Hull (1941-2012)

The robins and the flickers go beep, beep, beep
But Bach’s trumpets peak
And the pilly wood wacker does so.
Notes rising to a crescendo
Like its flaming red pileate
From its long strong beak

Aristocratic like Bach
Old growth only where it harvests
And it’s fussy residentially
“Cock of the Woods”
The old timers call it.
Picky.
But give this guy a Springtime hollow tree
And you will get a trip to Tahiti
Drums thundering so rapidly
That you can’t follow
But can see
The dancing woman awakening the forest

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