“How far did she fly to find
this pristine town on the edge of winter?
Crows have set up their kingdom—
a yacking flock louder than traffic
maims the morning air….

“Call the owl
sadness, the one who watches
from the other side.’’

— From “The Owl,’’ by Cleopatra Mathis (born 1947), American poet and a professor of English at Dartmouth College. She lives in Thetford, Vt.