Posts Tagged ‘owl’
a glimpse of sickle moon
I am so happy to announce my poetry manuscript, ‘a glimpse of sickle moon,’ has won Third Place in the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) Competition for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize for a poetry manuscript.
~
I’d like to extend huge congratulations to First Place winner of the Bailey Prize, Kathy Mac, and Second Place winner, Roger Moore. I cannot be jealous of these winners because they are, respectively, members of my two writing groups: Wolf Tree Writers and Fictional Friends.
~
Roger Moore has also won Third Place in the WFNB Narrative Non-fiction Prize and First Place in the WFNB Competition for the David Adams Richards Prize for a fiction manuscript. I am also proud of another of my Fictional Friends, Neil Sampson, who won Third Place in the David Adams Richards Prize for a fiction manuscript.
~
And to all the other winners, some of whom are good friends, congratulations!
~
My manuscript, ‘a glimpse of sickle moon,’ includes 56 poems about nature, arranged according to the seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall. For every four poems, a year rolls by, so the manuscript covers 14 years of seasons!
~
Here is the title poem, about the andirons in front of our fireplace.
~
andiron
~
wrought owl with amber eyes
perches on the hearth
hears a call in the forest
three hoots and silence
~
great-horned owl, light gathered
at the back of its eyes
the oscillating branch
after wings expand and beat
~
iron owl longs for a glimpse
of sickle moon
shadow of a mouse
sorting through dry leaves
~
in this cramped space
night woods decanted
fibre and bark, fire and sparks
luminous eyes
~
~
The next step will be to complete some drawings for the poems and add the manuscript to the poetry manuscripts I intend to publish.
~
All my best, especially to the winners of the WFNB Competition.
I am staying at home,
and in my two family bubble.
Jane
windy October drive
On Monday, I went on a drive to Cambridge Narrows, to visit an antique store and a roadside market. My goal: to buy some Nancy Drew mystery books for my collection and some pumpkins for Halloween.
It was a blustery day, windy enough to put some whitecaps on the St. John River…
The wind was especially evident along the former Trans-Canada Highway, where dry leaves have gathered in all the ditches. Since only a few vehicles use this older highway, the leaves blow into the roadway…
The day had a luminous quality, in spite of the wind. Most of the reds are gone from the trees, leaving the yellows of the poplars, the rusty-orange of the oaks and the gold of the tamaracks…
I had a successful day. I bought some small pumpkins at a roadside stand…

three little pumpkins from the roadside vegetable stand (the faint eyes in the background are the amber eyes of our owl-andirons)
I also added five books to my collection of Nancy Drew mysteries…
~
~
andiron
~
wrought owl with amber eyes
perches on the hearth
hears a call in the forest
six syllables and silence
~
Great-horned Owl, light gathered
at the back of his eyes,
and the oscillating branch
after wings expand and beat
~
iron owl longs for a glimpse
of the sickle moon
the shadow of a mouse
sorting through dry leaves
~
in this cramped space
night woods are brought to their essence
fibre and bark, sparks and fire
luminous eyes
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2012