Baba Yaga
Poem - by Donna Faulkner née Miller
Flanked by two large dogs
I walk along a country road.
The night in pursuit,
a hag at my heels.
Under her bleak coat tails,
the night hag morphs
gnarled trees into sinister silhouettes.
Her wretched face of darkness
bedeviling familiar landscapes.
I walk our regular route
roosting birds in the bushes
flutter nervously as we pass.
A cackling morepork incisive.
The dogs startled by
thunderous hooves
of scattering sheep.
The night hag advances.
We walk on.
Loose gravel crunches underfoot
scratching claws menacing.
Remnants of burned rubber
follow the roads curve.
Snagged in the bough
of veteran tree branches
the rising moon yawns.
Her face no longer polished sterling.
Crooked and yellow, like an old hag's teeth.
From the treetops
a morepork cries “Baba Yaga.”
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The morepork, also called the ruru or Tasmanian spotted owl, is a small brown owl found throughout New Zealand and Tasmania.