Their Voices

 

I don't know where the owls go when they leave this place, or if they

never leave, but simply leave off calling sometimes in their hollow

voices. But tonight they are here: one in a redwood beyond the

creek, one high in the fir tree above the house. Rappelled through

their voices, those three long vowels the darkness speaks in, I forget

my own worthlessness which has troubled me all day.

 

-- Gary Young, from Even So: New and Selected Poems

 

Comments

[Flannista]

This poem, which I read for the first time yesterday, seemed appropriate to publish following a post on pursuing silence. I also experienced this poem yesterday, except I paused for two large lake turtles to pass in front of me. They made no sound.

[PEACEsista]

Thank you for this poem. I love the photo, too. There are owls here in the woods and I have been hearing them at night, especially barred owls and their "Who-who-who-whoooooooo." I will miss them.

I am leaving the lake about noon today to drive to Chicago. I am sad to leave, or maybe I'm sad that my mother is dying. It seems like the sad is all mixed-up together. When I'm here in October, maybe I'll be building a spirit house for my mom on the island, where Gwendolyn's is. Mom loved that little island house best of all.

[Flannista]

PEACEsista -- needless to say, peace to you. Your sadness is palatable. I shall try and carry a bit of it with me today to lighten your load. I am grateful to have met your mother a year ago.

Sadness always seems to be mixed up together with other stuff.

Matissta and I look forward to our visit to that little island house.

[Peter]

Speaking of silence and owls...aside from the fact that they are a bird with wings designed to fly almost silently...I remember there was a nesting Great Horned Owl with three chicks at Legend Rock, an awesome Indian petroglyph site in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming, it (and occasionally the fluffy gray babies) would just sit there and look at me every time I was up there for work and I would always give them a wide berth, even though they were sitting on top of some of the best petroglyphs. A little eerie given the significance of the owl as powerful medicine to the Arapaho and Shoshone people who made the glyphs thousands of years ago. A woman who worked at a raptor rescue in Georgia came to the site one day when I was there, said that great horned owls are the most powerful bird pound for pound, that they can fly with three times their own weight and can close their talons with 500 psi of pressure...something that one of her coworkers had learned the hard way when a terrified injured great horned owl pushed its talons all the way through her forearm...I bet there was quite a lot of noise then.

[PEACEsista]

Peter, I love hearing your stories and I hope that we can go to Legend Rock together someday ... maybe yet this summer.

[Flannista]

I'm with PEACE about your stories, Pete.

Talons through a forearm. Powerful.

I'd love to go to Legend Rock with you sometime, too. Beer afterwards is on me.

[Peter]

Why beer? On December 1, there is this: http://www.wyomingwhiskey.com/content/home.html

[Justista]

I definitely gotta try some of that Wyoming whiskey.

PEACE: is this the whiskey with the barrels that will become the percussion for the kazoo band?

[PEACEsista]

Yup, it would be great to have Wyoming Whiskey as a sponsor! OUR kazoo band could get them a LOT of attention during the Frontier Days parades! But, they may not be ready to part with those barrels yet, since the first batch is just coming out of them!

My brother has a LOT on his plate. Hopefully, we will be starting our drive to Chicago by 6:00 PM. I am still waiting for him to pick me up. It's an eight hour drive from here. This will be a VERY long day (and night!) for both of us. At least the traffic shouldn't be too bad in Chicago by the time we arrive!

[PEACEsista]

Still waiting ... looks like my brother will pick me up at 7:30 PM! It will be a very late night ... or early morning, depending on how you look at it ... and tomorrow we will be moving furniture at 9:00 AM and throughout the day.

Wish me luck and send any extra energy you can spare!

[Matissta]

PEACE, thinking of you, your long trip to Chicago and Wyoming whiskey. Safe travels. Know that we'll be with you through each.

Peter, I want in on Legend Rock. If you go in September when Flann is visiting, I want a raincheck for myself.

[Peter]

Legend Rock is awesome, it is an unstaffed historical site, you check out a key from the bath house at hot springs state park in Thermopolis (which you can look at the clean, free, well maintained, state hot spring as a fringe benefit of the trip...along with the hanging bridge, buffalo herd, and huevos rancheros at the Black Bear Cafe), then you drive out to the middle of nowhere and unlock the gate...you can walk right up to the petroglyphs, which is rare for that type of site. I must warn you though, lots of rattle snakes guarding the joint.

As for late nights and early mornings...sugar free redbull.

[Flannista]

I kept my computer off yesterday afternoon and evening because the area was expected to get severe storms again, and I didn't want to lose power in the middle of computing.

I'm wondering if PEACE and her brother made it to Chicago. Guess they really could use some Wyoming Whiskey about now. And then to move furniture on top of it all. Deep breaths, everyone.

Peter: I've been reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed about a women who trekked the PCT alone. She encountered a lot of rattle snakes. I don't know what I'd do if I saw one outside of walking about a quarter mile around it.

I'm assuming that owls eat rattle snakes. Am I right? I mean, in a contest between an owl and a rattle snake, the owl would win, right?

[treesta]

Good morning, everyone.

I hope PEACE made it safely to Chicago, and I've loved reading Peter's comments about Legend Rock.

We're having a lazy morning before leaving Bryce and heading to Zion. Bryce remains one of my favorite places out here, especially when you get away from the 4 or 5 viewpoints that are crowded with people. Yesterday evening, we drove to Rainbow Point for sunset and had the place to ourselves.

Yesterday during the day, we took one of the trails from the rim of Bryce Canyon down into the ampitheater to enjoy the hoodoos from below. Given my weight and how out of shape I've become, I wasn't sure I could do it. Jiminy Pat, it felt good! I'm slowly getting my walking legs back on this trip.

I saw a huge bird floating on the air currents way, way above the canyon. Looked too big to be even an eagle. Read later that they've reintroduced California Condors to the Escalante/Bryce Canyon wilderness, and that several hunt over the canyon. I wonder if I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of these rare birds.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a grand day. Time for me to get kickin'.

[Peter]

Rattle Snakes, like most animals, are mostly concerned with what they can eat, and what can eat them...on top of that, they are pretty much deaf, and have very, very bad vision. Snakes like that smell and feel (Rattle Snakes, being a pit viper, are incredibly sensitive to heat) their way through the world...they are unlikely to attack you, but if you freak out, make a lot of noise and move quickly, you could get perceived as a threat. The only time I've had one rattle at me was when I jumped over some sage brush and one happened to be hanging out under it. The biggest I've seen was probably 5 feet long, and it slithered away after I almost jumped on it getting out of a truck. There are not a lot of bites, but a large, large percentage of human bites are to the hands of 16-24 year old males. Dogs get bit on the face a lot, because they don't know when to leave well enough alone.

A bird of prey would eat a rattle snake...as the Mexican flag suggests, I'm sure the Great Horned Owl would enjoy some snake meat.

I've heard Bryce Canyon is awesome.

[Peter]

Snake bites on humans, not human bites...I have no idea where humans tend to bite, but I bet they are much more varied.

[Flannista]

Let me pause for a moment and announce how much I've appreciated Peter's contributions to the sassosphere this summer. We need more male voices here, to be sure, but Peter is also smart as a whip and doesn't post tripe. Neither does he whine, like I do.

treesta -- glad you're getting your walking legs back. I've seen your photos on Facebook and they are breath-taking. When you get back, perhaps you'll continue to walk, though in less stunning settings. The temperature here this morning was about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday morning, and during my trot, I felt like I would never need to stop to catch my breath.

Felt great.

[Flannista]

Hey all -- have been in work mode (as Sista C calls it) all day as I fly to MouseLand tomorrow to conduct back-to-back creative sessions.

Stopped to write a new post for tomorrow, however. One that means much to me . . . as do each one of you.

Love to all.

[treesta]

Safe travels, Flann... and may positive outcomes evolve from the creative sessions.

Peter, looking forward to reading more of your comments. Love your descriptions of Legend Rock & rattlesnakes.

Sleep well, all.