The Swooping Kestrel
A kestrel hovers!
With a single wing-beat
it glides along a course
as straight as an arrow,
following the line of a hedge.
I scan for prey beneath
but my eyes betray me,
failing to see what it has seen,
and I return to mark its flight.
It swoops!
The merest tilt, and down,
plummeting to strike,
wings reversed, grounded;
and then a pause before
a flailing surge and it rises,
clutching a field-mouse or vole,
I cannot tell, but merely stand
and watch until it has gone.
And all is still – all is still.
Kevin Cowdall was born in Liverpool, England. He has had nearly 200 poems published in magazines, journals and anthologies in the UK and across Europe, Australia, India, Canada, and the USA, and broadcast on BBC Radio.
He has previously released three collections; The Reflective Image, Monochrome Leaves, and A Walk in the Park. His 2016 collection, Assorted Bric-a-brac (bringing together the best from these collections with a selection of more recent poems), has had excellent reviews and is available in paperback and from the Kindle Store on Amazon. Kevin’s novella, Paper Gods and Iron Men, is also available in paperback and from the Kindle Store on Amazon.
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