Owls, Dream, & Titles
How Owl--
Last night while hanging up prayer flags on an arbor, an owl (I think a barn owl), flew directly over me as I was looking up to tie the knot. I've lived here ten years and have never seen an owl. I've heard one once (on Halloween about 7-8 years ago), but I've never seen one.
I'm one of those weird new agey people who believe that animals wander into your lives at certain times to tell you something. There's a great book about it called ANIMAL SPEAK by Ted Andrews. And maybe it's not so weird in my community because we are graced by so many Native Americans around us who share their knowledge of animal totems and the earth as a teacher.
"Owl medicine" (as a friend put it) is about replacing old with new, with getting rid of what doesn't work and replacing it with what does. It came about at an interesting time for me because I've been thinking about that lately, especially after returning from my trip, I'm working on returning to my writing life once again and getting rid of habits, thoughts, etc. that aren't working.
* * * *
Unpoetic Dreams--
Last night I had a dream I was walking through this school and all these gold and purple balloons started to fall, then confetti. I started screaming, "This means the Huskies won the Rose Bowl!" Everyone was dancing and laughing. When I woke up, I was a little disappointed as I realized that the Huskies will not win the Rose Bowl this year because nothing I've ever dreamed has come true.
* * *
Desperately Seeking Title
Missed Connection
You: Elusive but interesting, edgy with your black boots and copy of the dictionary in your manbag.
I saw you boarding the ferry. You were intellectual but not in a way that turns people off. Yes black rimmed glasses. No argyle socks.
You spoke perfectly. Said everything I haven't been able to.
Your eyes just caught mine, and I saw your smile before I lost you in a crowd.
I should have stopped and turned around.
Me: Poet seeking title. White mohair sweater, jeans, and suede boots. Blue eyes and not much edginess. I think we could work well together.
If by any chance you read this, please write back. I would love to have coffee or a drink with you. You'd be great on the cover of my book. Think about it. I think we were meant to be together.
*
When I was a young child, in Corapolis, Pennsylvania (outside Pittsburgh), I had a couple of encounters with owls: one at some kind of fair or exhibit or carnival where there was an owl in a cage, and once hearing a screech owl in the evening, after dark, somewhere nearby, as we stood listening in the back yard.
ReplyDeleteAt some point after one or the other or both of those times, my parents started calling me Owl, as a nickname. Eventually I more or less "outgrew" it, or anyway got out of the habit. But Owl was something they called me sometimes when I was young.
I've only encountered owls a couple of times in all the years since. Once was in southern California, in October, years ago, somewhere near Los Osos (on Highway 1 a while south of Santa Barbara), traveling with a friend, we saw several owls sitting perched on wooden posts by the road -- this was well after dark -- and then at one point a large owl floated wide-winged across the highway just ahead, suddenly in our headlights and then moved on.
The other time, more recently but also a number of years ago, was in Minneapolis, across the street from a large cemetery after dark. I heard, somewhere off in the trees in the cemetery, a low "woo-woo" of an owl, repeating over and over.
In Greek mythology owls were associated with Athena, though I can't recall offhand exactly what the connection was.
Interesting that the owl came by as you were putting up prayer flags. No idea what the appearance of the owl may have been about, other than (possibly) suggesting an open doorway into the mysteries. But I wasn't there so didn't get any of the vibe, so take that for what it's worth.