El Búho

There are times
words come to my mind
faster in Spanish
than in English. Why

just this evening
búho flew faster
into my mind
than owl did. Something

suggested in the wing beats,
felt more like búho
than owl
to me. The remembrance

of a word I hadn’t used
too terribly often,
even in childhood,
made we wonder

what else
is flitting about my subconscious,
waiting for me to discover it.



Owl Queen by Don Martin.
You can find more of his whimsical work on Etsy and Red Bubble.
Don is a poet as well as an artist
and you can find his latest poetry collection on Amazon.




This poem was created for Poets and Storytellers United's Weekly Scribblings #17.




50 comments:

  1. English-language is universal, but our own native language is much closer to our hearts.

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  2. "Buho,".. as in owl!😃 It has such a lovely lilt and cadence to it!💘 This is beautifully done, Rommy! Thank you so much for writing to the prompt!😍😍

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  3. That's how bilingual brains work, I guess! Love the owl art too!

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  4. Your poetry put a huge smile on my face ... wish I was bilingual.

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    1. I've found playing with apps can help with learning another language. My Japanese is getting better thanks to DuoLingo

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  5. I feel the same about French, even though my first language is English.

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    1. It's a very pretty language. I really don't know too many words in it that don't involve food though. :D

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  6. It is amazing what memories from childhood still lurk in ones brain after so many years.

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  7. Fascinating thing, the human mind! And what a master of enjambment you are: such ease and flow, such unobtrusiveness.

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    1. Thanks Rosemary. It does take a little work for me to get it to flow the way I want to.

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  8. I was here before, and liked that little El Buho so much I linked on to see it and more like it. So I completely forgot to leave a footprint. Or a typeprint. ;) So I am back and I do wonder what is in your subconscious that you might share next time.

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  9. Love poems that feature two languages and this one is especially beautiful...

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  10. Don't you just love it when a distant memory pokes you in the brain o inspire your future :D XXX

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    1. It feels like finding a helpful post-it note to yourself :)

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  11. When I first returned from Germany after eight years, there were some words I could only remember in German and sometimes spoke to my bemused mother in full sentences of Kölsch dialect. Forty years later, I miss that.
    As a linguist, I enjoyed finding out about words and meanings of other languages, and still do. I think ‘búho’ suits the bird better than owl. It’s onomatopoeic and just pops out of the mouth so beautifully. I love the lines:
    ‘ …Something
    suggested in the wing beats,
    felt more like búho
    than owl…’
    I would have liked to have studied Spanish, but was hooked on mainly German languages, although we did dip into others.

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    1. The Germans have some fun words! Kummerspeck/ grief bacon comes to mind.

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  12. I'd say everything you've ever thought or experienced. Enjoyed that.

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  13. I especially loved "Something suggested in the wing beats.." Very recognisable I prefer some words in Dutch as they sometimes feel more real. Then there are the words you can't really translate and are an important concept in your life like the word 'gezellig' meaning something like cosy but not quite

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    1. It's need sometimes to do a deep dive on where the words come from. I always get a kick when a friend of mine who is way more literate in Spanish than I am breaks down word origins.

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  14. Very nice Rommy an owl is still an owl. Happy Sunday

    Much💛🌺💛love

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  15. I love words brought with birds that fly into your subconscious. The birds of my childhood of hold a special place even though they were mostly sparrows.

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    1. Sparrows have quite a bit of personality from what I've observed wandering around my neighborhood.

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  16. Really enjoyed this, Rommy. Sometimes you just have a better name.

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  17. In one way, it seems that búho fits as a proper name to me. I can only understand bits of several languages, including sign. I'm fluent in none, including English. Cheers!

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    1. LOL, I have mornings I feel like that too, before tea :D

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  18. I think our dreams sometimes give us a glimpse of the things that are floating about in our subconscious....and it's often quite a revelation to know what's in there! Loved the art and the poem!

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    1. Oh yes. I've thought about my dreams, especially the recurring ones quite a bit.

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  19. A lovely "glimpse" at your subconcious. I wonder (with you), what else is flitting about waiting to be discovered!

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    1. It is a busy place, my subconscious. :D

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  20. I do like your owl art, and I enjoyed reading your words.

    All the best Jan

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    1. The art is Mr. Martin's. He does such a nice job with whimsical animal pictures.

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    2. Thank you so much for the kind words and for stopping by, Jan!

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  21. Don't you just love it when language sings of fun?

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  22. I love your words and I love the owl! Big Hugs!

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