A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology

Kaua‘i ʻōʻō

Rachel Rix, Sacramento, California, USA

 

Life isn’t always 

 

for the willing.

 

A honey-eater’s flute-like call

 

the last song sung   

 

for a female that would never come. 

 

Favoring Lobelia nectar,

 

but forced to higher ground. 

 

In 1987, David Boyton was the last 

 

to hear its query—is anyone out there

 

It’s possible the ʻōʻō never went extinct. 

 

Twice rediscovered. 

 

But his survival’s unlikely;

 

his call is loud and distinct.

 

Rachel Rix earned an MFA from Sierra Nevada University and has forthcoming work in War, Literature & the Arts. She has recently published work in Verdadand Right Hand Pointing, and was shortlisted for the Billy Collins Fish Anthology 2020 poetry contest. Rachel lives in Sacramento, where she is a CMT. She lives with her husband, Adam, and their two cats, Floppy and Leo.

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