fuel
trapped in the clear blue empty sky
farsighted, hot-headed
sacred
love quickens
love compels me
to dive
to pierce
to kill
hush
she
no haggard
but caught, valiant
in an unseen snare
and no bloody end
no
jessed instead
hooded instead
waiting
breathing
listening
rapt
uncle
a day old chick
is offered me
I, still wild
tethered to your wrist and hungry
refuse
we wait while you wake me
bullies
wings and wine and wild things
disturb my afternoon nap
genuine, unkind wild things
shift their weight
then linger
the brutes
I rise to greet them
a conquistador vanquished
a lover lost
my stomach growling
I rise
In looking through my older works, I found these which I had forgotten about. I wrote them about ten years ago when I was considering taking up falconry. Falconry turned out to be too much work for me (holy cow is it a lot of work!) and I got chickens instead, but I am still fascinated by the art.
