Topic Summaries

'With Birds You’re Never Lonely’ contrasts a noisy London café with a memory of respite in Zealandia Sanctuary, New Zealand. The poem begins with the speaker struggling to hear the barista amid clattering spoons and hissing steam. Noticing a man reading about trees, his thoughts drift to his recent time in the forest, sitting alone on a stump among ancient Kauri trees and bold Tui birds.