Listen to Hootie
Chip Dameron
February 2, 2025
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
Emily Dickinson
Late night: a great horned owl hoots
from the field behind the house
once again, after days of silence.
Soon another hooting starts:
a second owl, calling out
to the first. The two hoot back
and forth, then finally go silent.
Early morning, their hooting begins
again, and with hoot hoot hoot
answered by hoot hoot hoot hoot
the night creeps on toward dawn.
Soon a new day illuminates
the great gift we, like the owls,
have been given: life in a world
of innumerable living things.
If we listen closely we may hear
others calling out to us, looking
to make their lives, and ours,
more meaningful. Let’s hoot back.
Chip Dameron’s latest book, Relatively Speaking, is a shared collection with Betsy Joseph. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, he’s also been a Dobie Paisano fellow.