#PicoftheWeek; Eye-Catching& #99Word Stories; Nature

Just an owl, but I stopped, my eye already caught by snow on branches.

I stopped to see this owl see me, watched it watch and listen from this tree.

I too swiveled my head, looked out at the snow crusted field with the owl.

How I wanted to hear what it heard, to see what it saw from that tree.

All I could see was a gray woolen sky, these snow cloaked trees, and this owl.

Darkening gray of this time of day, I’m homeward bound, my work day done.

But I stopped, to see another just begun.

I am responding to Maria Antonia‘s #picoftheweek photo challenge,crossing out “eye-catching” on her bingo board of inspiration. Though not a requirement, I usually try to include a short syllabic poem to accompany my photo. This week that poem is in 99 words, no more no less; the first six lines are of seventeen syllables each, each an American sentence, with eleven more syllables in eight more words to meet the Carrot Ranch criteria of 99 words. Check out Maria’s  #2023picoftheweek to see how you can participate in this fun prompt, and be sure to check out Carrot Ranch for all sorts of fun, information, and opportunity.

The Carrot Ranch February 6, 2023, prompt ?: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story as a love letter to nature. You could reach back to more pastoral times of writing or enter into the future. Who is writing the letter — an ant or an aunt? Is it a lifetime of love or eons? Go where the prompt leads!