But the owls themselves are not hard to find, silent and on the wing, with their ear tufts flat against their heads as they fly and their huge wings alternately gliding and flapping as they maneuver through the trees. Athena's owl of wisdom and Merlin's companion, Archimedes, were screech owls surely, not this bird with the glassy gaze, restless on the bough, nothing but blood on its mind.

All eternity is in the moment.

Far off in the red mangroves an alligator has heaved himself onto a hummock of grass and lies there, studying his poems.

... Let us risk the wildest places, Lest we go down in comfort, and despair.

One thing I do know is that poetry, to be understood, must be clear.

... to write well it is entirely necessary to read widely and deeply. Good poems are the best teachers.

Praying It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.