Produced by David Edwards, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: a tree with a bird in it (front cover)] A TREE WITH A BIRD IN IT: A SYMPOSIUM OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETS ON BEING SHOWN A PEAR-TREE ON WHICH SAT A GRACKLE BY MARGARET WIDDEMER AUTHOR OF "FACTORIES," "THE OLD ROAD TO PARADISE," "CROSS CURRENTS," ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM SAPHIER [Illustration] NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC. PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY RAHWAY, N. J. THIS IS DEDICATED WITH MY FORGIVENESS IN ADVANCE TO THE POETS PARODIED IN THIS BOOK AND THE POETS NOT PARODIED IN THIS BOOK FOREWORD By the Collator A little while since, I had the fortune to live in a house, outside of whose windows there grew a pear-tree. On the branches of this tree lived a green bird of indeterminate nature. I do not know what his real name was, but the name, to quote our great exemplar Lewis Carroll, by which his name was _called_ was the Grackle. He seemed perfectly willing to be addressed thus, and accordingly was. Aside from watching the Pear-Tree and the Grackle, my other principal occupation that winter was watching the Poetry Society of America now and then at its monthly meetings. It occurred to me finally to invite such members of it as cared to come, following many good examples, to an outdoor symposium under the tree. The result follows. Margaret Widdemer. P.S.--The tree died. TABLE OF CONTENTS