Lament of the Golden Hawk
photograph by Dave Woodman
I wanted so much to write an ode
to the golden hawk that faced out
from Dave’s birdbath this morning,
head slightly turned toward his camera,
broom tail dipped in the jeweled water,
the magnificence of its feathers soft as
Gabriel’s, dressed like a royal in gold
regalia, but the red of its eye warned
of the stretch and rise that can swoop
down and snatch whatever catches
its fancy—like a camera strap hanging
from this silver-haired guy with eyes
the lightest sapphire—snapping Dave’s
neck back, the bird squealing in triumph.
An ode to immortalize a beating heart’s
rapid-fire that is its nature? Then again,
I’ve loved this man whose heart I broke
when we were kids, and now he’ll never
love me back.
…..
This poem is from the chapbook Variations on a Theme of Love by Kathy O’Fallon (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/variations-on-a-theme-of-love-by-kathy-ofallon/
Kathy O’Fallon’s poems have been published in magazines, literary journals, and anthologies such as RATTLE, Passager, LAdirge, and Salt Marsh Press. Previous chapbooks include When the Moon Spills Her Milk, Underbelly, and At Higher Elevations, also by Finishing Line Press. Her full-length manuscripts have been finalists for the Backwater Prize, the Inlandia Book Award, and the Henry Morganthau Award. She is a clinical psychologist working and living in Carlsbad, CA, near five spectacular granddaughters and their amazing parents.
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