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Turkey Vulture Omen
pulling in from the corner store, unlocking
the front door–I noticed my neighbors
out on their landings–some of them
I only see when they take out their trash
they were all looking up, hands
visoring their eyes in the summer noon sun, so
naturally, I looked up too to see five
haggard vultures on my roof, hopping
like wraiths, preening themselves, soldiering
sojourners–I didn’t smell anything dead
or rotting–none of them were circling for
carrion–I immediately took this as an omen
why my apartment? Is this totemic? why
were they stretching their cloaks upon my
particular roof with its shingles in great need
of repair–am I going to die before the landlord
gets around to it? why do I go straight
to the pagan, the suspicious, the medieval?
like the psychic is pulling the Buzzard
Tarot Card as my fate from the deck?
what is it in my nature to immediately
assume that this is a portent? is this just
hard-wired human reaction? a neighbor,
as I walked into the house, was ruminating
over getting his rifle and shooting them.
he was not happy about it either. then,
later, I looked up their behavior and found
that, during hot weather, they tend to
warm themselves on the molten roof tiles.
I felt relieved but also somewhat disappointed
although afraid I had just seen an augury
of my own death, it is still a bit saddening
to lose the mystery to ornithology, to be
a scientist rather than a mystic, to, in a way,
lose my ancient psychic tie to these raptors,
these scavengers still waiting to eat my flesh. |
