The beginning of wisdom    Confucius said
is to call things by their proper name   & so
as I watch the feeder    I learn to discern
sparrows from finches    amid their flickering
& bickering    & scattering of seed
& by this    seek to sound wiser    if only to myself …

* poem, in its entirety, is available in the printed version of the current issue.


Bio:

D. S. Martin is Poet-in-Residence at McMaster Divinity College. Angelicus – a poetry collection written from the point of view of angels (2021) – is now available from Wipf and Stock . He has a blog, Kingdom Poets, and a website, dsmartin.ca.