Snowy Owl Goddess by Diane Wakoski

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend August 15, 2014   Snowy Owl Goddess   Diane Wakoski

Loudell, in a loose cotton dress             the color of delphiniums,                         her hair, owl-feathered and quiet as her naked toes in their pale sandals              is a friend from this harvest part                          of our lives, a Minerva woman              of herbs and salsas, hellebore, trumpet vines                         and heirloom tomatoes. She glides among us all,              carefully,                           as if we too might be live plants.             Almost in a trance from the heady                         August evening, and perhaps from the corner of my indolent eye, more absorbing the murmur             than watching, I registered                           this Snowy Owl of a woman as she stripped an olive through her raptor’s mouth,              then delicately flung the pit                            into the narrow garden verge next to her deck chair.              Usually fastidious as a pharmacist                          weighing crystals, she surprised me in this seeming-act            of littering, until I realized “oh, the pit might take root,                          grow!” It was her planter’s instinct/ give every seed a place.             Sipping her chardonnay and, with one hand cracking                           some pistachios to neatly deposit their shells in a bowl with pits from olives              the rest of us had eaten,                           she reminds me that even with abundance             there need not be waste.                          Every day the image, planted in the hull of twilight conversation, visits me: A Snowy Owl                 suddenly spreading her 10-foot wingspan                               to cover this sacred earth, its arcing motion, her arm unfolding into air           with the olive pit                      bowling earthward.            Copyright © 2014 by Diane Wakoski. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “‘Snowy Owl Goddess’ is one of a number of meditations where I’ve attempted to rectify the actions or assuage the bad feelings lacing my history, wherein I’ve never been able to accept women as friends or appreciate their beauties.  I have found that trying to fight my old angers and prejudices, I often am rewarded by seeing goddesses instead of enemies.” —Diane Wakoski   Diane Wakoski is the author of Bay of Angels (Anhinga Press, 2014). She has retired as a University Distinguished Professor from Michigan State University and lives in East Lansing, Michigan. Most Recent Book by Wakoski   Bay of Angels (Anhinga Press, 2014) "Beauty Supply" by Lee Ann Brown "Helen" by H.D. "You Make Love Like the Last Snow Leopard" by Paige Taggart Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038