The Owl Catcher's Son

Abstract

The Owl Catcher's Son Andrew Hemmert (bio) Keywords Andrew Hemmert, poetry, labor, career, animal, fatherhood Without workI live inside the classifieds,and so spend my daysimagining differentways my life could turn outif I was a postal workeror a custodianor a bird catcher—an actual job I came across,the gist of whichwas chasing pigeonsout of big box storesand sparrows out of airports.I've wrangled birds before,yellow finchesthat trapped themselvesbehind pool screensand could not seethe door wide openpast which the whole sky waited.A lot of themI caught by handand released into the yard,only to find them deadon the pavers hours later.When stress gets its hands on them,they can't take it.Me, I stockpile stresslike an apocalypse prepper.I don't know what my life would bewithout anxiety,but I know bird catchingmust be in my blood [End Page 242] because my father's done it too.The neighbor called him upone night, told himthere was a screech owl in her house.He thought she was jokinguntil he saw it perched thereamong the knickknacks in the kitchen,staring back like a renegadepiece of the woods.The way he tells it,he chased the owl through the housewith a landing net,knocking books onto the floor,toppling chairs and swinging for dear lifeuntil the owl flew right into the net.He wrestled it outside,its wings flapping like a mess of fishtrapped in the rubber mesh.He threw the net open in the backyardand the owl shot up into the nightlike this had been its planall along. Which is not uncommon,acting like you meant to dowhatever ultimately ended upsolving the problem.That's what most jobs require.In most respects I haven'tfollowed my father's footsteps.But this I aspire to—how to do a job welleven if it fights you beak and wing.How to carry the delicate,difficult thingwherever it needs to go. [End Page 243] Andrew Hemmert andrew hemmert's poems have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, The Journal, Michigan Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, and Poetry Northwest. He won the 2018 River Styx International Poetry Contest. He earned his MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Copyright © 2021 The Massachusetts Review, Inc.