by Guinotte Wise.
When the dogs were little pups falling around
I made them a pen, and the owls came to look
so I crisscrossed fishing line over the top of the
pen to keep them from swooping in. Now the
dogs are grown, they barked and barked until
I finally went out to break the pattern, a small
owl was in some bushes, sent the dogs inside
and put the little fierce guy in a laundry basket
and outside the buried electric fence where the
dogs can’t go. Mom owl watched this from a
tree. I said feed this, teach it to fly, okay? The
next day same owl was in the yard, dogs were
frantic barking, laundry basket again, mom
owl flew closer, I said look, here you go, do
some owl wisdom, put him in the same place,
he lay on his back looking at me, went away
owl gone in minutes, haven’t seen him but I
worry about him, mom owl calls, Whoo cooks
for yoooo, whoo cooks for you all, another
owl answers not far away, don’t know where
the fierce kid is, but I wish it well, I raised a
robin to adulthood, don’t need that again, I
even taught her how to fly, when she left with
her frantic mate, she circled close to bid her
parents, Freddie and me, goodbye, scared the
shit out of her mate, but off they went, if you
get picked to be a bird foster DO NOT water
them with an eyedropper, you’ll drown birds
that way, just feed wet dogfood, okay? Often.
They eat often. I had to take the robin to work
with me daily. She landed on our heads, our
shoulders. It was intense. Wear gloves with
owls, talons. A hat in case mom attacks. She
just watched me. Owls, man