study in cultural anthropology

storks' nests on facades
homes of babes
brought in spring
nests big enough for young spaniards
who spend in the villages
their first few months
in these large nests atop the church towers
los torres de igles
finding ease with the faint windswept ringing
      of the occasional bell

the storks wrap the babes of spain
      in their white blankets
and drop them in a good mother's arms
somewhere in spain before they leave
      to go back to africa for another batch

it was good to discover
that a certain part of the population
actually does arrive by storks
people thought it was a fairy tale thing but no
actually the storks of spain do bring children
and these children first become aware
of wind and the sound of bells and wind blown
        air from distant seas

some information is essential

at least now we all know
that celtic spaniards spend the first 8 months or so of life
atop churches in northern spain
before they are placed in homes for the rearing years
actually these nests are large enough to nestle comfortably
a large number of sucklings at once
so for certain weeks in the early summer
you can actually see baby spaniards
all nestled in the storks nest
of their first sociological impression
the world as it is given to them
along sticks and feathers
and odd bits of string rope old shoes
but mostly just nicely arranged sticks
the storks have somethng architectural to say
and the spanish people let them say it
they have to
most of them arrive in spain
by way of storks' nests atop catholic churches

even i was confused
 because i thought for sure the stork story
was imaginative fancy
 probably some
opium addict
in london
in 1850
but no
actually it is based on the true experience
   of people in northern spain
most of them
 i won't say all of them
 but most of them
 are flown in from parts of africa
and they spend their first few months in nests
atop the arched bellbanners of catholic churches





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