"Tentatively Titled 'Owl Eyes'"
There is a plastic owl
attached to the railing of a fence
separating the brief back porches
of a row of ground-floor apartments
from the alleyway I cut through
on my way to buy
groceries.
The plastic owl
is there to scare off birds,
who would forage and eat
and defecate
and ruin.
I have not seen any birds
in that alleyway, except for the remnants
of dead ones, grey feathers pasted
to concrete.
They do not last for long;
within a day or two they are gone
and there is no evidence that they have
ever been there.
The owl watches over the alleyway,
efficiently and malevolently guiding
car wheels quickly and quietlybump
over offending
ornithology.
LEGEND:
Plastic Owl: You
Dead Birds: Despair/Despairing Thoughts
Car Wheels: Your Affection
Back Alley: My Heart
attached to the railing of a fence
separating the brief back porches
of a row of ground-floor apartments
from the alleyway I cut through
on my way to buy
groceries.
The plastic owl
is there to scare off birds,
who would forage and eat
and defecate
and ruin.
I have not seen any birds
in that alleyway, except for the remnants
of dead ones, grey feathers pasted
to concrete.
They do not last for long;
within a day or two they are gone
and there is no evidence that they have
ever been there.
The owl watches over the alleyway,
efficiently and malevolently guiding
car wheels quickly and quietlybump
over offending
ornithology.
LEGEND:
Plastic Owl: You
Dead Birds: Despair/Despairing Thoughts
Car Wheels: Your Affection
Back Alley: My Heart