I was as mesmerized by the story of this unlikely hero as many New Yorkers were. And I was as devastated by his death. The necropsy report was recently released, showing that he had high levels of rat poison in his system, along with a severe pigeon virus. Both of which likely contributed to his demise.
Is the vandal who slashed open Flaco’s enclosure at the zoo responsible for his death, or for his incredible final year of life? Would as many people have pondered the importance of The Wild if Flaco had remained in his cage? How can we refocus this attention on the plight of a single bird and help people to understand the cataclysmic extinctions of entire species every. single. day. (up to 150 species per day, according to some estimates)?
Maybe the human brain is incapable of wrapping itself around the big picture, and the best we can do is to love and care for The Wild in our own yard, neighborhood, and city. On that note, I’m going to go check to see if the milkweed in my garden has poked its head up yet. Maybe this summer, I will have monarchs again. If not, I will have done my best for them.
Here’s how the rest of the Poetry Sisters met the challenge of a pantoum to, about, or including an animal:
Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon
Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect
Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}
Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas
Sara @ Read Write Believe
Tricia has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
I love your pantuom for Flaco and your post, which poses so many powerful questions. (I’ve been thinking about that vandal as well.) I love that final stanza, and the idea that this owl perhaps inspired others to spread their wings and follow their dreams.
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An inspirational post that ponders many questions, Mary Lee. Thank you.
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What an awesome tribute to Flaco. And I love that last stanza!!! Rooting for your milkweed. When I get home from my trip, I’m going to check on mine too!
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Oh, Flaco!! Thank you for honoring him this way, Mary Lee. I love how empowered he is in this poem. Your larger questions, though, yes. Ooof. It’s an utter heartbreak….
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As my year in the faculty learning community dedicated to sustainability education comes to an end, your post and poem are particularly meaningful for me. Your last stanza is powerful. Thank you for sharing.
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Wow, you really brought that ending home! You should submit this one somewhere, Mary Lee.
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Oh Mary Lee – i live very close to NYC and throughout this year the news has been peppered with Flaco’s escape, sightings, and ultimate demise. i was so happy he was free eating his fill of rats, but worried about what would happen to him. An office window with his own reflection brought him down. Your questions about who’s responsible is so powerful – responsible for the wild owl life/death. I’ve pondered that very question over these last months.
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Beautiful ode to Flaco, Mary Lee. And I agree — if Flaco’s life and death is to mean anything, I hope it inspires more nature-love for our planet!
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It must have been such a thrill to see that great big bird flying free. The whole story just leaves us with so many questions… So many whys… but in the end, maybe you’ve included the most important takeaway, that the way things are – animals in zoos, people oblivious and outside – the “natural” order of things doesn’t have to remain. Maybe we’re all due an “improbable, adventurous escape” from the way things are.
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Thank you for this poem! Rat poison is devastating the birds of prey in our area as well. Here’s hoping we can put a stop to it!
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I didn’t take a picture, but the milkweed is poking up by the lake where I walk. I imagine yours will arrive soon! I’ve followed Flaco, too, Mary Lee. Your poem/tribute to him and perhaps his legacy to remind others of the plight of his fellow creatures is many-layered, but to me, giving him the agency to be free as he was meant to be shows the freedom to live all creatures should have. It’s wonderful!
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I really like the turn in your poem in your ending lines, it brings some justice to the injustice of Flacos demise. I followed Flaco’s story too, and follow our trailing/devastating loss of bird species. Hope your milkweed brings monarchs this summer.
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Mary Lee, here’s to Flaco and the risks he took. Your pantoum ode is beautiful. I like how you end with the lessons he taught. Now, like you, I hope we can switch our perspective to learn lessons from whole species being lost.
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I’m glad you wrote about Flaco, Mary Lee. He deserves as many tributes as we can manage. Was he eating rats that had died or were partially-poisoned rats still wandering around? What a world, huh? xo
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Wonderful tribute and remembrance. I love what you did with the last two lines.
I’m hoping to have more milkweed for my monarchs summer! Last year I found myself moving a caterpillar that ran out of leaves on a small plant. I want to do my best by them.
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I’m adding “Bigger Picture” to the list of things we have to start teaching earlier in school, as I contemplate how we can make real change. My book club discussed BRAIDING SWEETGRASS yesterday and unavoidably ended, despite the chocolate-tahini Ottolenghi brownies, at a depressing conclusion of overwhelm. Honoring Flaco this way helps.
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A lovely tribute to Flaco, and yes, I am asking all the same questions! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Fabulous pantoum, Mary Lee. I love the line about Flaco giving New Yorkers a way to engage with the wild–once a memory, now near. I’m always ambivalent about zoos, but I believe that even in zoos, animals connect us with our wildness. And even singular animals that catch our pop-culture fancy can do the same. A single wild bird–nobody (okay, hardly anybody) pays attention. But one with a story, like Flaco…that’s different. It’s amazing how one animal can evoke a larger story…and one well-written poem can evoke large questions! Thank you :>)
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You ask such pertinent questions about our attention to wildlife. I went to the garden center to find milkweed and the owner said, “Obsessed, are we?” I guess it is so, but I also want to do my part.
I love your pantoum and how it brings us closer to the experience of Flaco. What a great story!
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