BIRDS
A 7-color reduction linocut
8" x 12" print size
11" x 15" paper size
Hand printed on BFK Rives paper
Edition: 9
Sold unframed
Price includes shipping within the U.S.
A copy of the poem will come with the print.
ODE TO AN OSPREY
Ossifragus, bone-breaker
Oh to be so far sighted
as to see what I want
from aloft–
a glint in bright waters.
Oh to be so bold
as to fold my wings
into free fall—
no hesitation, no doubts.
To be chillingly exact,
raising my wings,
lifting my legs,
in the last breath.
Deft enough
to rake the surface
with sharp, hooked claws,
barbed pads on the soles of my feet.
To sweep
what I’m after
right out of the water
and then rise
on wild downbeats,
shimmy my load
into alignment—
head first, no drag.
Oh to wing
back to my eyrie,
catch clinched
in steel talons.
Leslie Moore
SPIRE: The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability
2023, Issue 7