Men and Their Peckers

Men and Their Peckers (title mine). This was a poem originally published in M.E.N. Magazine. I think you'll find the double entendre of my title funny once you read the poem. Here it is:

This morning I’ve been thinking
How much I love the way some men
Keep working with their bills. You’ve been
Alone in the woods, heard that knocking sound
Far off. It’s one of them.

If you’re going to follow your beak
Back to childhood, then the food you’re looking for
Will be far beneath the bark. The beak is so
Close to the brain that some men will want to
Call the whole thing off.

Men who work like this sometimes live in acres
Of scrub trees. I like that cheerful sound.
"Not many people here." "Woodpecker
Friend, call me or I’ll call you. How’s
That wood?" "Hard but wormy."

Robert Bly