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
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!
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Susan Hankla
8/25/2019 12:41:34 pm
sorry I called you Steve...I know you are Richard!
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