More decoration than decoy, the owl did not seem to take its job seriously, leaning against the fence like a summer hire in the last week of August. The sparrows saw a slacker and hopped around under the awning, cracking seeds against the pavement, skittering about the dogs’ water bowl, beating the heat with their open-beaked bird pant. But the end of summer owl had a message for me: eat all the raspberries, go swimming, go barefoot. What does the end of summer owl say to you?
Elizabeth Paul 
3 responses to “The End of Summer Owl”
This end of the summer owl reminds me of the chidlhood pleasures of the magazine “Highlights for Children,” in particular a zig-zaggy line drawing that housed hidden objects, like a rabbit, a spoon, or a basketball. The magazine offered a welcome distraction as I waited in the orthodontist’s office to get my braces tightened. I was always so disppointed if another child with a bad overbite had spolied the picture by circling the hidden opbjects. In this drawing I spot a bird sitting on a nest on the left eye and a breaching whale sending up spray on and around the left ear. . .
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I actually played that game with this drawing. I saw surf boards, perforated paper edge, coffee beans, and orange segments. Stas saw an old shark where you saw a whale. My mom and I used to play this game by scribbling randomly on a memo pad and then finding and outlining what we saw.
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Wait, summer ended? Tee hee. I loved finding this today and thinking back on summer. I totally feel the “Highlights” reference, too!
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