12 May The Hawk by Donna Grace
what I saw
that morning
in the graveyard
among the amber groves
shedding their seeds and robes
how the red-tailed hawk flew
so close she filled my eyes
with chocolate cinnamon plumage,
brown suede wings
and black velvet fringe
I had only seen in photographs
I did not tell you that when
she plucked the squirrel from its branch
how it felt to be part of something solemn
and violent,
I could not walk away from
without honoring death
with a kaleidoscope wreath
of nature’s painted debris
against the base of the tree
mourning the loss of its villager.
About the Poet
Donna Grace is a community activist, teacher and, with her husband George, co-host of the LitGarden Writers group since 2008. Prior to the pandemic, Donna rarely wrote poetry. At the onset of the pandemic, Donna discovered and took refuge in reading, studying, and writing poetry. Her efforts were rewarded with two poems published in the Buffalo News Poetry Page, works included in the LitGarden anthologies Just Twelve More Poems and Tilting Toward the Moon, and featured readings at many venues across Western and Central New York. This poem appears in her first full-length collection of poems Bread & Bisous published by the LitGarden Writers Collective.
Related Event
- Donna Grace will be the featured reader of the Fourth Friday Reading Series on Friday, May 17th (note the date change) at Dog Ears Bookstore, 688 Abbott Road, 2nd floor, in Buffalo. The reading will serve as the launch event for her new full-length collection Bread & Bisous. Admission to the event is $5. Proceeds benefit the Dog Ears Bookstore, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.