Arrival

And so I had an owl,
a little piece of neighborhood lightning.

I’d swing by the pet store,
buy mice to stock the yard,

and keep watch,
my eyes tuned to shadows.

I’d will the street to sit still and quiet
so the owl would let go and glide,

carve its arc across the backyard darkness,
just a hitch – one moment –

when the talons clutched,
then gone,

the best part of the summer,
I only saw it once.

Rob Carney MFA, PhD, is originally from Washington state, USA.
He is a two-time winner of the Utah Book Award for Poetry and the author of three previous books, and three chapbooks of poems.
He is a Professor of English at Utah Valley University