"If the Owl Flew Past me Last Night" and photos by Miriam Entin-Bell (she/her)

August 5, 2020

Hello pine needles moss rays which have made it

this far down in the still and soft canopy. Hello giant

owl flying low past me and my journal

you are like a piece of bark: brown sun-soaked

meant to move as you do. Hello bay leaves

rustling and hello branches framing the sky.

Last night right before dawn I woke sweating hello wind

carried from the sea hello both low and high

clouds moving at different speeds. Hello rain I fell back

asleep during the downpour I slept through

the lightning the crack hello tree

dipping to the ground. I write in my journal

this afternoon’s stillness / is shocking.

If the owl flew past me last night

if the lightning hit if the tree fell

at the same time I would have seen only

the flash the crack the fall. Hello August

afternoon your hush your far-traveling

beams of light How much do I miss

even now?

*The hellos in this poem are inspired by Mary Oliver’s “Why I Wake Early”