Myra Schneider
Owl
In the park which is full of light I pass
a man in knee boots and a wide hat
tapering to points. An owl is perched in state
on black leathers buckled to his arm. Its breast
is smooth as fur, white as snow, its flecked
ginger wings quietly folded but the splay
of claws conjures up those monster birds of prey
on the garnet purse dug up at Sutton Hoo.
A swift turn of the head and its amber eyes
stare at minutiae I cannot guess.
A trained owl, a man in mediaeval dress -
I’d write this off as a dream but I can hear
the football bluster, feel mud squelching
underfoot, see the playground’s solid slide.
So does this owl have electronics inside
to make it twitch, swivel, fly the sky?
Nowadays we excel in making mock-ups
that are lifelike, producing videos, bring
sheer Himalayas to our homes, the song
of a rare New Zealand bird, then peer into
speckled bells of enlarged plants to snoop
on their private lives. A barn owl that’s a fake
would be no surprise. But I can’t shake
from my mind the bird’s aloof beauty, the way
I stepped aside, afraid to be close to wings
that might smother, a beak that could peck
out both my eyes and scoop ruby specks
from my heart. Each day it matters to me more
that the owl wasn’t tamed or simply a toy
constructed with no power to excite fear
of its fierce eeriness at night, matters more
I choose the real, not the counterfeit.
Page(s) 48-49
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