Pamela Uschuk

Pamela Uschuk (1953-) was born and raised on a farm in Michigan. She received her B.A. In English (cum laude) from Central Michigan University and graduated from the University of Montana with a MFA in Poetry and Fiction.  She is on the faculty at Ghost Ranch Jan Term, where she teaches a three-week mixed-genre writing intensive. Pam has authored 8 books and received many awards. Spring 2024 she is the Pearl S. Buck visiting writer at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Return of the Warbling Vireo

Deep in the oleanders’ dense thicket, a warbling vireo screams

for a mate, another migrant back from his long

trek from Mexico. He loves the green tango

of poison leaves keeping his slim gray body

safe from Cooper’s hawk, the snelled claws

of our local bobcat, my young dog, part dingo,

who could snatch him on the wing.

I understand his need, not

desperation but the urgency

etched in his DNA driving him to sing,

belting out his singular desire.

Late night going to dawn, I write verse

few will read. Like a leaf basket

hanging from a eucalyptus branch flexible as a guitar string, I am

pushed by the future’s howling mountain wind.

Hear me please, hear

me, the melodic vireo cries, hear me

tumbles time

from his lonely beak on fire,

Hear me Hear me Hear methe wind pleads.

— Pamela Uschuk