Birdhouse

Could you make a birdhouse for an owl?

How many stories would you like?

My grandmother loved owls so much

she’d collect them in all their forms.

An old frayed tapestry hanging in the hall,

candles kept unlit, stone statues perched on her shelves.

I have her prized owl necklace squirreled away in my jewelry box.

My cousins didn’t seem to want it once she died. 

I want to tell her I love her

and that I’m sorry I didn’t see her when I should have.

I never felt like I belonged. That I was real enough.

I was no one's granddaughter.

Which wasn’t true.

I know that now,

I want to build her a birdhouse for her owls.

It would go next to her favorite bird feeders.

The ones you could see from the dining room table.

The ones my parents took down when we moved. 

There came a time when she had enough. 

There couldn’t be another Christmas 

where all she got were owl themed nicknacks.

She wanted something more. 

Or should I just hollow out a tree.

Make them feel at home.