The Apples in My Orchard

Today’s prompt word is shrill. It is on the list from the Verse of Ages Poetry Prompts for April 2025 for today’s date.

Shrill. It’s not an attractive word. It connotes a noise like a scream made in fear or perhaps excitement, like when one is on a roller coaster. It can be used as an adjective, noun, or verb, according to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary.

I’ve developed a fascination with loons since we started living on our small Northern Wisconsin lake full time. They have more than one call, and their calls mean different things.

The yodel, one of the loon’s calls, has been described as shrill. It is a call that means, “this is my territory” and is only made by the male.

Two years ago, we had what’s called a Loon Fallout from the sky here in Wisconsin.

I wrote about it on my Medium.com page. I am sharing the Friend Link for the site. If you cannot open the full article, let me know and I will send you the friend link to your email or in response to your comment. This is a Medium issue – I’d love you to read the full article. By using a friend link, I do not receive compensation for people reading the article.