Here is what the poet says about how this poem came to be written. I don't think it could have been explained better because that's how most of our poems are birthed; seeking to voice our own questions.
When I wrote this poem my wife and I lived in steep foothills adjacent to a oak grove along a wildlife corridor. Every autumn Great Horned Owls would mate in the area and the sound of there mating calls filled the late sunset and early evening hours. The sound is often rendered as hoo Hoo hoo hoo or whoo Whoo whoo whoo. I often thought about this call and how I could write a haiku based on the owls.
Owls are symbols of many things in several and various cultures; one of them is supernatural doom (the ghostly flight of the barn owl, the snowy owl etc. and its sudden and fatal strike). The barn owl's call is often transliterated as "Who...ooo...ooo," and so we have the ingredients for supernatural evil questioning....the rest of creation. "Twilight" is when owls begin patrolling and is the half-light of uncertainty. Also, God is usually a selling point in English language haiku/senryu, just as Buddha is....
Here is what the poet says about how this poem came to be written. I don't think it could have been explained better because that's how most of our poems are birthed; seeking to voice our own questions.
When I wrote this poem my wife and I lived in steep foothills adjacent to a oak grove along a wildlife corridor. Every autumn Great Horned Owls would mate in the area and the sound of there mating calls filled the late sunset and early evening hours. The sound is often rendered as hoo Hoo hoo hoo or whoo Whoo whoo whoo. I often thought about this call and how I could write a haiku based on the owls.
At some point…
Lovely ku! Congratulations, Gregory
in the wind the window’s owl hoot
Am unable to understand this ku. Would be grateful for any pointers please.