Oh! That’s a big bird!
What is it?
Is that a pigeon?
I can’t see it
from here.
It’s a hawk!
It’s a buteo.
Right up on the porch
rail of that building.
See where I’m pointing?
Look at the brick
building and then go up
to the upper-left
corner of it.
It’s a big hawk.
Such a hawk head.
You can see that?
Your eyesight is
amazing.
No, it’s not.
It’s just that it’s a hawk.
What does it mean
that we’ve been visited
by a hawk?
It means
there’s one more
hawk in New York City
than I knew about.
Now it appears
to be looking
up. I would think
when it’s up
high like that
it would look
down for a
rat.
Hawks fly downward
at their prey
and they go at, like,
two hundred miles an hour
and it’s called a stoop.
That’s a verb.
Hawks stoop
onto their prey…
Look at that tail going
flit,
flit.
Wait—
that’s what peregrine falcons do!
Maybe
it’s a peregrine falcon!
Hey,
we could talk
right here.
Why don’t you bring
your recorder over?
Okay, so we were talking
about revision.
I actually wanted to ask—
Don’t get too close
to the window too fast.
I don’t want to scare it.
It’s a really little tree.
The tree wiggles
when the hawk
moves.
This hawk is in
a tiny bonsai.
They often shift
their weight
when they’re about
to fly.
Oh, don’t fly
darling.
Don’t
fly
yet.This found poem was taken brick for brick from an interview with Sharon Olds by Jessica Laser from
the Paris Review in New York City (Summer 2023 issue)
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- 111: BABYwith S Deo & L Ferney 110: POP!with Z Frost & B Jessen 109: NO THEME 12with C Maling & N Rhook 108: DEDICATIONwith L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik 107: LIMINALwith B Li 106: OPENwith C Lowe & J Langdon 105: NO THEME 11with E Grills & E Stewart 104: KINwith E Shiosaki 103: AMBLEwith E Gomez and S Gory 102: GAMEwith R Green and J Maxwell 101: NO THEME 10with J Kinsella and J Leanne 100: BROWNFACE with W S Dunn 99: SINGAPOREwith J Ip and A Pang 97 & 98: PROPAGANDAwith M Breeze and S Groth 96: NO THEME IXwith M Gill and J Thayil 95: EARTHwith M Takolander 94: BAYTwith Z Hashem Beck 93: PEACHwith L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong 92: NO THEME VIIIwith C Gaskin 91: MONSTERwith N Curnow 90: AFRICAN DIASPORAwith S Umar 89: DOMESTICwith N Harkin 88: TRANSQUEERwith S Barnes and Q Eades 87: DIFFICULTwith O Schwartz & H Isemonger 86: NO THEME VIIwith L Gorton 85: PHILIPPINESwith Mookie L and S Lua 84: SUBURBIAwith L Brown and N O'Reilly 83: MATHEMATICSwith F Hile 82: LANDwith J Stuart and J Gibian 81: NEW CARIBBEANwith V Lucien 80: NO THEME VIwith J Beveridge 57.1: EKPHRASTICwith C Atherton and P Hetherington 57: CONFESSIONwith K Glastonbury 56: EXPLODE with D Disney 55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUSwith M Chakraborty and K MacCarter 55: FUTURE MACHINES with Bella Li 54: NO THEME V with F Wright and O Sakr 53.0: THE END with P Brown 52.0: TOIL with C Jenkins 51.1: UMAMI with L Davies and Lifted Brow 51.0: TRANSTASMAN with B Cassidy 50.0: NO THEME IV with J Tranter 49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH with M Hall and S Seita 49.0: OBSOLETE with T Ryan 48.1: CANADA with K MacCarter and S Rhodes 48.0: CONSTRAINT with C Wakeling 47.0: COLLABORATION with L Armand and H Lambert 46.1: MELBOURNE with M Farrell 46.0: NO THEME III with F Plunkett 45.0: SILENCE with J Owen 44.0: GONDWANALAND with D Motion 43.1: PUMPKIN with K MacCarter 43.0: MASQUE with A Vickery 42.0: NO THEME II with G Ryan 41.1: RATBAGGERY with D Hose 41.0: TRANSPACIFIC with J Rowe and M Nardone 40.1: INDONESIA with K MacCarter 40.0: INTERLOCUTOR with L Hart 39.1: GIBBERBIRD with S Gory 39.0: JACKPOT! with S Wagan Watson 38.0: SYDNEY with A Lorange 37.1: NEBRASKA with S Whalen 37.0: NO THEME! with A Wearne 36.0: ELECTRONICA with J Jones
