Swifts

…inevitably

Our swifts are back.

I’d like to write about it, but I’ve come to an awkward realisation.

I don’t know what to say.

I’ve written about swifts in four of my books. And I find, to my distress, that I’ve mostly said the same sort of thing, using the usual words, the standard descriptions. You could play Swift Writing Bingo with them:

‘screaming’ ✅

‘masters of the air’ ✅

‘sickle-shaped’ ✅

And there comes a time when you find you have nothing left, not really.

To save you the bother, I went through all those passages (they ran, all told, to over 3,000 words) and took out any words I thought they didn’t need. For those who want the really short version, here’s a word cloud. Cobble together your own Swift Piece™ from that lot.

And here’s the longer version. It’s a cross, I think, between the contents of a notebook, a telegram, and the outpourings of E J Thribb. You might, at a stretch, call it a ‘found poem’, which is why it’s all lower case, random line breaks and no punctuation – a doomed attempt to lend it the veneer of seriousness.

swifts are back I crane my neck

OHMYGOD SWIFTS SWIFTS SWIFTS

cause of death swifts swifts swifts

common swift apus apus no-foot no-foot

breeding season abundant widespread Europe Asia winter African equator

whizz through air pointed nub mouth snapping eat insects

hind limbs shrunk lost ability perch tiny curved toes deceptively strong cling vertical surfaces

short weak legs ill-suited launching take off

wings long broad arc tapering tip sickle shape muscular powerful flight

swoop sweep glide bank skid whoosh scream squee screech squeal wheel

fast free flourish flurry flutter

constant activity hyperactivity

thrill watching fly past formation

extravagant aerial ballet

circling overhead enlivening skies eye tracking every exuberant move

evolved for nothing but flight

speed speed manoeuvrability speed manoeuvrability astonishing speed

swifts arrive May 5th 6th 7th every year appearing blue sky portal

four eight ten screaming party banshee wails

Maverick Iceman writhing slipstreams slicing atmosphere

miniature whoosh of displaced air

sheer rollicking delight tracing path above treetops

loose group of squiggling wriggling parentheses

crest invisible rise hang motionless flip turn back round waggle wings

come again like skateboarders too cool to fall

cling wall swing away go around

avian parkour of the highest order

pull up steep go cruising gliding

circling higher flying higher soaring beyond up up up another realm

coming together close formation group

flash past peel off last second dart up eaves grapple confined space

nest

loose nest straw saliva

three weeks egg

swift chick emerges blind featherless

starts life

parents feed wads of regurgitated insects beak pouch

tiny dark space genetic imperative develop muscles grow strengthen quickly

two months baby swift ready fly wings strong

time comes

push away

throw wings

three years air

abhor ground

swifts redefine bird

otherness

glimpse of alien world

magic appeal captures imagination

mastery air audacity aerobatics defy belief

encapsulating excitement inspiring human heart

deep satisfaction

summer

then August slip away overnight

gone

sickle-shaped hole

no more screaming fly-bys high-flying wing-waggles spectacular daring dusk acrobatics

no more swifts

the sky is empty