This is Bird Note.

J. Drew Lanham is a poet and ornithologist

whose work intertwines his lived experience as a black man in the American South

and his love of wilderness.

Both have taught him that joy is a source of strength.

I find my joy on daily walks around the farm or just sitting and watching some bird.

And it doesn't have to be a rare bird.

This past spring, I was just enthralled watching Robbins.

It was like they were so happy that spring was here, they would just sit in little shafts of sunlight.

I can see that bird.

I can just see it.

Just sitting there in the middle of dooryard violets.

I could see its eye blink.

And then it opened that yellow beacon and, like, yawned.

And it didn't move.

That was just it.

It was just being.

It's easy to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern life that we forget

how to be present, or even take for granted that

we're free to choose joy.

It sounds simple, but you have to grab it, you have to grasp it, you have to keep it.

But however you get it, you turn to it as your superpower.

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