“Parrots, songbirds and hummingbirds all learn new vocalizations.
The calls and songs of some species in these groups appear to have
even more in common with human language, such as conveying
information intentionally and using simple forms of some of the
elements of human language such as phonology, semantics and
syntax. And the similarities run deeper, including analogous brain
structures that are not shared by species without vocal learning.”
……………………….. —Smithsonian Magazine, Do Birds Have Language
What Needs to be Sung
. . . and here I thought I am descended from apes;
but it may be birds who speak from trees
rather than primates who swing through them
with whom I am more comfortably close
because they sing! and singing’s a beautiful thing
if done with the art of Cardinals, but
still, I can’t fully deny the grunts of apes
who share my lack of delicate precision when it comes
to telling things as they are, who pound chests
and rattle nearby undergrowth in the midst of jungles
when other brutes enter their perceived turf,
they too share my penchant to articulate,
though in more bellicose poetry
while from the canopy above
singing their way through the world
under threat of hawks and cats
or snakes who would enfold them in lethal hugs
or a fox who would steal their young
they employ the syntax of a piccolo
the semantics of a violin
the phonology of a trill
to say what needs to be said,
to sing what needs to be sung
Jim Culleny, 3/2/22