The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

The Owl, by Richard Becker

3/30/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
The Owl, by Ilana Lee Becker (USA). 2016.

This Owl is Forever
(after a six-year-old
daughter’s pastel drawing)

 
​

Whether reading
by the window 
or at the computer 
showing it my back 
 
it’s glaring gaze 
cuts through me 
so I know 
this Owl’s forever.
.
 
Within the frame 
it’s huge red wings 
reach out 
beyond the frame
 
spread wide 
and open up 
opulent as the robing 
of an obese cardinal 
 
lifting faithful
to their feet
so I know 
the Owl’s forever.
.
 
What monstrous hands 
these wings if they
were human 
here on earth.
 
The owl forever stands 
on robust tarsals for 
when pummeling prey 
at 40 m.p.h. But her call 
 
is held at bay 
in two dimensions
hailing from the wall
in silent utterance.
.
 
In her head a curtain 
to a cancelled world
eyes penetrating time 
at three-sixty degrees
 
see through
me even up-side-down 
unchallenged by
earth’s changes. This Owl 
she is forever.
.
 
And below her feet 
tiny towns twinkle 
up to her in haze. 
Was she hissing 
 
in the air stalking 
vulnerable and pure?
Who said the Owl 
was wise was wrong.
 
This one here’s
no barn owl
and she don’t stand
on no rafter.
 
When we say our prayers 
this raptor could be taken 
for a fluffy red feather duster 
thick with purple pastel 
 
piping back of wings 
wiping pre-tense off
before or after--
yes this Owl’s forever.
.
 
Made from tree bark
chalk and milkweed 
she speaks now and says, 
“You are what you are. 
This will always be.” 
This Owl is forever after.

Richard Becker

Richard Becker is a concert pianist, composer and Director of Piano Study at the University of Richmond. He has had a Bread Loaf Scholarship for poetry, a Vermont Studio Center Fellowship as a poet, and, as a composer has been a MacDowell Fellow. Becker has published poetry in the U City Review, The Baltimore Review, America, Columbia, Cold Mountain Reviewand Main Street Rag.
3 Comments
Nathan Goldblatt link
6/7/2019 01:20:03 am

a stunning poem by a man of great talent

Reply
Susan Hankla
8/25/2019 11:41:01 am

Hi Steve! This is a sweet poem for a talented daughter. I love her artwork. The colors are especially magnificent. And the poem makes her owl iconic!

Reply
Susan Hankla
8/25/2019 12:41:34 pm

sorry I called you Steve...I know you are Richard!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead