Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

The Day After the Election

November 10, 2016 By Sandra Heska King

 

 

hawk-110916

The Day After the Election

I’ve just made another deposit on the house,
and I’m on my way back from the bank.
As I make my move to turn left from
Federal Highway onto Atlantic Boulevard,
a giant fluorescent green lizard leaps into my path.
I hit my brake. Others hit their brakes. Horns blare.
The creature leaps and thrashes, gyrates in the street,
discombobulated and disoriented,
searching for a way of escape through a maze of tires.

Two lanes over to my right, I see a guy on his knees
reaching under the rear of his car.
He pulls the writhing baby dinosaur out,
then jumps back in the front passenger seat.
While I’m still waiting for the green arrow,
the car passes on my right.
I see the lizard, (an iguana?) on his lap
looking out the window like a pet dog.

Now I’m thinking about the kindness of one,
what one guy risked to save something of another kind.
As I stroll up the path to our cottage
set in this serene little compound off a side street,
I see our cat perched in the window.
I smile, remembering how he scared us the other
night by hiding in the back of the closet.
We spent an hour and a half searching outside.
I wanted to kill him then.
I wonder… would someone would have
risked their life to save him if they’d found him
frightened and confused in a strange place.

I don’t see the hawk two feet in front of me
next to the brick path until I startle it,
and it flaps upward to a branch above me,
talons grasping its prey–a mourning dove, perhaps?
I watch for a long time while it tears into flesh.
Feathers flutter onto the cottage,
bits of bone plunk the roof,
and tumble down like hail.
I’m helpless to save, and I think
this, though, is the nature of a hawk—
to devour its own kind.

 

hawk-2-110916

 

I took 130 photos. I’ve spared you the graphic ones. You’re welcome.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Filed Under: Blog, poetry, stories

Comments

  1. Louise Gallagher says

    November 10, 2016 at 9:21 am

    Powerful reflections.

    Great photo — and story — and thanks for not sharing the graphic ones!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 10, 2016 at 10:59 am

      Thanks, Louise. And yeah… at least he didn’t waste any of his dinner… 😛

  2. Dea Moore says

    November 10, 2016 at 10:10 am

    Wow, Sandy. I read this in my inbox and then the tease about the photographs sent me over. Thank you for gathering from the chaos out there. You’ll not find me on FB today. I guess I’ll go back eventually but today I’m over it. Hawks and Doves and dinosaurs that are saved….good stuff over here this morning.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 10, 2016 at 11:00 am

      I think taking a social media break is a wise move, dear Dea. Sending so many hugs.

  3. Michele Morin says

    November 10, 2016 at 10:36 am

    Funny how all of nature seems to bear witness to our feelings of disarray.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 10, 2016 at 11:01 am

      Wow, Michele. Exactly that. You have a way with words.

  4. Lyli @ 3dlessons4life.com says

    November 10, 2016 at 11:19 am

    We eat our own. So sad! I am thankful for the tenderhearted rescuers out there.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 10, 2016 at 12:31 pm

      Me, too. xo

  5. Simply Darlene says

    November 10, 2016 at 12:07 pm

    Oh my word. I just wrote a small piece about a hawk attack in our duck yard yesterday… Even in the midst of meanness & chaos, kindness is everywhere. Searing compassion to our hearts is what we must do — as His, as brothers and sisters in Christ, and as Americans.

    Thank you for sharing.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 10, 2016 at 12:37 pm

      Amen to that.

      And the thing about this one… I never expected something the stealth of something like that here… right in front of the window… nor for the hawk to be so bold as to wait until I nearly stomped on it before lifting up… and to continue it’s meal right above me. Rather scary.

  6. Martha Orlando says

    November 10, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    Stunning photo to match your stunning, thoughtful words, Sandra.
    Blessings!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 10, 2016 at 2:00 pm

      Thanks for reading, Martha. To think this all happened in the space of 30 minutes. Love to you.

  7. susanshipe says

    November 10, 2016 at 7:11 pm

    But those Iguanas??? Yikes.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 11, 2016 at 11:11 am

      I don’t know my lizards, but that was my first thought…

  8. Donna Falcone says

    November 17, 2016 at 8:25 am

    Wow Sandra – the nature of a hawk. And hawks are pretty straight forward – pretty clear in their mission here on earth – eat – live – eat. Humans are so much more complicated. Sigh.

    And so one day my mom turned all of the statue owls to face the wall where they stood. All of them. Why? Because she saw an owl drag a bloodied bunny across the pure white snow in our yard and lift off just before getting to the road – and she was so angry at all of the owls, her beloved owls, that she couldn’t look at their faces. Maybe she was disappointed in them – for being owls?

    So many pieces of your poem story make me feel so many different things.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 17, 2016 at 8:53 am

      Oh my gosh, Donna! What a stunning story.

      I wonder now in light of Laura’s FB post this morning if this poem would be stronger by deleting the last four lines of the first stanza… I think I shall ask her…

      • Sandra Heska King says

        November 17, 2016 at 8:59 am

        You know what? I don’t think I have to ask. I’m slashing them. 🙂 I think the title says it.

        • Donna Falcone says

          November 17, 2016 at 9:26 am

          I like it.

          • Sandra Heska King says

            November 17, 2016 at 12:48 pm

            🙂

  9. Laura says

    November 17, 2016 at 9:20 am

    I’m not sure a hawk would consider another bird species its own kind. Laying aside for a moment all symbolism of hawks and doves, are we more shocked when a bird kills another bird, a mammal another mammal, a reptile another reptile, than when an animal’s hunting goes outside its taxonomic class?

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 17, 2016 at 12:55 pm

      When I first wrote this, I didn’t even think about the symbolism of hawks and doves. 🙂
      It could have been a bunny or a mouse or I suppose my cat if I let him outside, which you probably saw almost happened last week… sort of. In this case, it had feathers and wings…

      Honestly, I’m not too crazy about that part of nature that requires one to eat another that’s likely smaller and weaker in order to survive, or just grow bigger and stronger.

      I like how you always make me think.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final t “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” ~ Philippians 4:8 

#fall #southflorida #hope #thoughts #philippians4 #dayafterelection
“My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in th “My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.” ~ William Wordsworth in “My Heart Leaps Up”

🌈🌈🌈

From my back door and then from the patio. A phone can never capture the true glory of a rainbow. I hope my heart never fails to leap at the wonder of one.
We were monarch parents a couple years back, but o We were monarch parents a couple years back, but our food was not enough to support all our “children.”
🌱
But some were better parents. And next month @tspoetry is celebrating with a garden party. And you are invited. 
🌱

✨ An evening poetry celebration with Dheepa Maturi, Laura Boggess, Jules Jacob, and Sonja Johanson
✨ sign up today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/year-of-the-monarch-garden-party-tickets-1005650847757
✨
This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at a farmers market in Ponte Vedra in Feb 2023. And it hasn’t done a thing except not die. I did repot it a few months back just cuz I thought it might need it. A few days ago I noticed it was sprouting a sprout. And today—10 days after having my aortic valve replaced and the day after having a loop recorder inserted—it has UNFURLED!!! A new heart. 🩷
Looking west this morning. “Sometime, enough o Looking west this morning. 

“Sometime, enough of us should plan
to gather and form our own
luminous cloud.” ~ Luci Shaw in “The Weight of Air” (from The Generosity)
Security is on the job. Security is on the job.
So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it's finally come to this. One week from today I will have my aortic valve replaced. Eeeek! I know it's done all the time--piece of cake. But that's to other people. 😂 Speaking of cake, I've always hoped to blow out 100 candles (at least), and I keep singing this line in my head...

"And my heart will go on and on." Thanks to @celinedion. 💕
Hi! Long time, no post. So… I grew this from a Hi! Long time, no post. So…

I grew this from a pineapple top. We repotted it again over the weekend. Still no fruit, though. Our neighbor has a baby growing on a small plant, though. What’s up with that?

(Also, I do not have a green thumb. Currently the only things still living are this, an avocado, and a little Boston fern.)
We got out here early today, but it was already so We got out here early today, but it was already soooooo hot (later on the"feels like" was 110), and I was just plodding one foot in front of the other wishing I was still in bed. There was not much to see--except the crane family, some blackbirds, a dove. And it was buggy. And a deer fly bit me on the forearm, and it swelled up, and I still have a 1- x 3-inch reddened area. But then... a pink parade.
Just snapped a couple photos of a normal looking s Just snapped a couple photos of a normal looking sky from my back patio with my iPhone! I grew up in Michigan and never saw them before! #northernlights #westboca #southflorida
“So they took branches of palm trees and went ou “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” ~ John 12:13
🌴
🌴
PALMS

He had a date with them. ~SHK
🌴
🌴
~ Six words I wrote on my blog in 2015 as part of a daily “One Word Less for Lent” series.
🌴
Photo taken in Israel, 2022.
Dressed for success... Dressed for success...
“Sing, hope, to me” ~favorite line from “The “Sing, hope, to me” ~favorite line from “The First Spring Day” by Christina Rossetti via Every Day Poems and @tspoetry in my email this morning. 
❣️
Whole poem (with lots of favorite lines) here:
❣️
https://open.substack.com/pub/everydaypoems/p/the-first-spring-day?r=3acod&utm_medium=ios
❣️
Wild red poppy anemones from our spring trip to Israel in 2022. And, of course, red is the color of hope. 
❣️
#dipintopoetry #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #tweetspeakpoetry #everydaypoems
Sweet baby colts. Just one parent. Apparently the Sweet baby colts. Just one parent. Apparently the other was hit by a car. 😭💔
Bufo serenade AKA the Ballad of the Bufo Bufo serenade AKA the Ballad of the Bufo
South Florida is confused. South Florida is confused.
“Somehow she learns to breathe.” ~ @gyoung9751 “Somehow she learns to breathe.” ~ @gyoung9751 in “The mermaid breathes,” a woven poem from tweets. In my email today from Every Day Poems via @tspoetry.
🌱 
#dipintopoetry #everydaypoems #poetry #poetrycommunity #poetsofinstagram #poetsofig #tweetspeakpoetry
"You have what you need / is what the birds sing a "You have what you need / is what the birds sing all morning" ~ Annie Lighthart in "Conditions of Happiness."
🌱
In my email this morning from 
Every Day Poems via @tspoetry.
🌱
#dipintopoetry #poetry #poetrycommunity #everydaypoems #poem #poetsofinstagram #tweetspeakpoetry
If you’ve made it this far, the rest of the week If you’ve made it this far, the rest of the week should be a snap. #wednesday
Stay behind me. I’ll protect you. No worries. So Stay behind me. I’ll protect you. No worries. So will all those shots. Mostly.
🦝
D still has PTSD from the Great Possibly Rabid Raccoon Brouhaha of 2021.
Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in