Day Eight – Owlman

-Pat Perry The creepy owlman

I, Owlman

I, Owlman fly above the church steeple
in corrugated cardboard wings made by mum,
stapled and brown sellotaped in full.
Didn’t mean to scare those girls who walked by.

My feathers are all soggy in the rain, fall
apart. Soon owl will go, leaving just me.
Mum took sharp scissors and curled all
these brown paper strips now all soggy.

Kitchen roll tubes are like a skeleton
under my wings. My claws weren’t very sharp,
so I used kitchen knives after she passed on.

My late mum is an owl now with a harp.
I used to only go out in the dark
as an owl. Now I, Owlman in my heart.

-Paul Brookes