Superb Owls

Silver Coin ~ 5th Century Greece
449-413 BC ~ Tetradrachm Athenian Owl

It turns out that owls are not just for coins
and full moons,
they are also for football:
you say Super Bowl; I say Superb Owl!

A year ago, I learned of the relatively
new and delightful tradition of celebrating
the Super Bowl with a Superb Owl -- or two.

Time to reshare my favorite poem
containing the word superb:
"Summons" by Robert Francis

& repost

my favorite owl poem . . .

If the Owl Calls Again
at dusk
from the island in the river,
and it's not too cold,

I'll wait for the moon
to rise,
then take wing and glide
to meet him.

We will not speak,
but hooded against the frost
soar above
the alder flats, searching
with tawny eyes.

And then we'll sit
in the shadowy spruce
and pick the bones
of careless mice,

while the long moon drifts
toward Asia
and the river mutters
in its icy bed.

And when the morning climbs
the limbs
we'll part without a sound,

fulfilled, floating
homeward as
the cold world awakens.

poem by John Haines (1924 - 2011)
American poet and professor
Poet Laureate of Alaska, 1969 - 1973

Find both "If the Owl Calls Again" & "Listening in October"
in Haine's collection: The Owl in the Mask of the Dreamer