Eight Hooter (Barred Owl)

In the velvet dark of deep
summer nights      lit
by the darting glow     ·
of  ·  f i r e · f l i e s   ·  amid
the gently swa·ying gras·ses
bushes  · trees  · and seeming still·ness
comes the call
whoot whoot wooo-hooo
whoot whoot wooo-hooo 

Strix Varia, Hoot Owls
perched in trees
listening listening 

Hoot Owls
swooping swiftly through
the thick humid air
looking looking
whoot whoot wooo-hooo
whoot whoot wooo-hooo

Midnight dialogues
of monogamous mates
the light and dark bars
of their dense muffling feathers
lit by grandmother moon
shadowed by leafy canopies 

Barred Owl’s big
round brown eyes
    l o o k     l o o k
shining out from iconic facial discs
those feathers flicking here and there
as tuftless asymmetric ears
   l i s t e n     l i s t e n
for the scamper or scurry
of vole ·  mouse ·  squirrel
owl survival skills perfected
over some eleven
thousand years 

whoot whoot wooo-hooo
whoot whoot wooo-hooo