16/10/2026
The Clattering.
One voice followed by another followed by dozens.
Shouting, yelling, cawing.
Look up to spot the source of the noise.
Circling overhead, a plethora, a flock,
a clattering of jackdaws.
Synchronised swirling: order from chaos.
The clattering settles into silence coating a tree.
But soon it is time to leave.
Each voice tells another they want to go,
building and building and building until WHOOSH.
A democracy flies up into the sky.
Words by Marianne Nicholson.
