The word from owls

The crows in this part of Madison (where I am with the "grands") were making a ruckus this morning, which often means one thing--great horned owls, specifically the pair that have made a home in a willow tree in Sarah's back yard. So I went out searching and watched one fly over my head and land in the tree, sit right next to its mate. Were they staring at me as I stared at them?  Even from my distant perspective on the ground they are huge, Powerful,  birds--from another sphere in this world. I wanted to ask, "What news? What news are you bringing? Let's have it." 

In the meantime, I have this quote from Walker Evans, by way of Phyllis Root:

“Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.”

I had an eavesdropping experience yesterday,  reading The Animal Family  by Randall Jarrell. I was actually fulfilling an assignment from Marsha Qualey for our work revising the Required Reading List at Hamline. We wanted to be sure this book from the 60s still deserved a place on the list.

My vote is yes! First, the epigraph, "Say what you like, but such things do happen--not often, but they do happen." What a wonderful invitation to magic!

Jarrell takes his time putting this family of hunter, mermaid, bear, lynx, and boy together. And that might be a problem for readers looking for action.  But there's an atmosphere to the book that builds, through tone, through taking one's time, through detail--the mermaid's burbling language, the lynx's careful washing of the Hunter and the Mermaid, who says of the freshly-polished hunter, "If I hadn't lived with  you so long, I don't know whether I'd recognize you. He's got you so you just gleam." The family is a world unto itself. Jarrell has built this world. They are all each other needs. There's no getting and spending, no longing for more. It's a kind of Eden. When I was done, that world colored mine, shaded it with wanting to slow down, look more closely, stare.

 Stare. Let's, and report back. The crows are at it again. Must go.