Poems by John Kaprielian
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Saw-Whet Owl Irruption
by John Kaprielian
From Canary Fall 2020
John lives in the Croton watershed, equidistant from the Hudson River and the Great Swamp, at a lively spot on the Atlantic flyway.
The cupboard is bare
boreal forest floor
barren of voles and mice
for lack of seeds
natural cycle or
climate chaos
it neither knows nor
cares just
perches hungry
in the fir and spruce
Something old and
deep in its brain
tugs southward
or perhaps it
just follows scarce prey
to more verdant fields
in unknown lands
To us it is
a magical invasion
huge golden disks
stare down
from tiny bodies
almost perfectly hidden
and we gawk back
with telescopic eyes
and pointing fingers
But they are hungry
disoriented
fearful
in this new land
of unnatural shapes
and invisible walls
Refugees in the
land of plenty
Previously published at Naturewriting.com
© John Kaprielian
Wisdom
by John Kaprielian
They say Wisdom comes with age
and experience
and she does
finding her spot on the crowded
beach at Midway Atoll
as she has for six decades
searching the sky for
Akeakamai
her mate of at least a
dozen years
She is matriarch
unflappable
mother to dozens
guardian of the seas
soaring magnificently
over the open Pacific
traveling thousands of miles
in a single flight
Another year
another egg
hopefully another chick
she is a survivor
a witness
to nuclear bomb blasts
tsunamis
oceanic pollution
and a rapidly changing climate
Each year her return
brings hope
that we too can survive
Her chicks
are our children
*Wisdom is a Laysan albatross. She is the oldest confirmed wild bird in the world as well as the oldest known banded wild bird. It is estimated that she hatched in 1951. She has returned almost every year to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge to nest and has been with her current mate, Akeakamai, for at least 12 years. She hatched her latest chick in 2019 at age 68 and has laid 30-40 eggs in her lifetime. She has flown over three million miles.
First published at Naturewriting.com
© John Kaprielian