owl

owl

the owl tucks in her wings and is in free fall

on a precise trajectory on a windless night

with her unsuspecting prey at the end

of the parabolic arc that the owl’s fall describes

..

the little rodent’s life ends abruptly

when the loaf-of-bread shape of the owl

drops landing-gear talons that are as scimitars

that run the doomed rodent through and through

..

the owl’s cartilaginous keel anchors powerful wings

that beat silence into a faint rustling from the leaves

with the tiniest of splashes from an air-pulled drop

of still-warm rodent blood onto a leaf’s stem