Below the dock
we spot a mound
of shells wave-winking
from the river mud --
an otter's winter forage.
We’d left the bay
before November's
horizontal winds could harry us
and dash our boat
against the ice-clad cleats.
The creature must have scavenged far
along the ragged bottom
to snatch its fare
and shuck these nacreous lids.
It must have climbed
many frost-white mornings
fur dripping
mussel in mouth
to sit here upon the wharf
to skim these husks
to sample
the empty riverscape.
Published Sept. 2006 in Avocet
Fish Eagle
Sprawled on a rock I watch
the tree-walled pond
its commerce drenched
in heaven's mirror.
An osprey mows the air
over and over
back and forth
across the still pool.
Head down
watching the dark water
over and over
she traces a grid
as regular as a chess board.
Over and over
patient as a grand master
then a hover
a check.
Fierce flight forward
driving aslant
she charges the surface
like a skipping stone.
Angling up
with a tail-jerking fish
in her talons
she climbs the air currents
levels off and lands
to work
over her prey
on the dead limb
of a live oak.
_____________________________________
An earlier version was published in Avocet, March 2004.
Belaying Pin - limerick
For rigging on ancient tall ships,
A belaying pin
helped with the grips.
A sailor could cope
With all manner of rope
Lashing
lines around pins on his trips.
___________________________________________
Published 2006 online in OEDILF,
The Omnificent
English
Dictionary In Limerick Form. (www.oedilf.com)
The Windsurf Wonk - limerick
To skim o'er the waves while you stand
On a board with a sail may seem grand,
But a boardsailing ride
In light winds that subside,
Might force you to swim for the land.
________________________________________
Published online 2006, with the title "boardsailing," at the
Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form (oedilf)
Catboat
Even though she hugged the tiller tight
to keep the little sailboat’s bow upwind,
the craft, that fickle "cat," just
grinned.
It side-slipped on the swells, without the
least
response to the skipper’s useless fight
to keep its heading straight, its one sail
trimmed.
The helmsman, unaware it wasn’t the wind
or waves, pressed hard to lee to set it right.
This boat she’d rescued, committed to the light
from years discarded in the woodland dim,
appeared to go its separate way on whim.
Just now she turns to catch a startling sight:
the plywood centerboard that should have hung
beneath the hull to keep the course direct,
its layers adrift, unglued from gross neglect,
is floating like a flag, a kite unstrung.
Thus like a spouse who’s forced to accommodate,
knowing the fault was hers, the separation,
she squints ahead, plotting a new direction,
and ends her useless fight to dominate.
Tiller and sheet in hand she alters course;
allows the failing craft to head downwind.
Landing at a neighbor’s dock, chagrined,
she ponders what should happen next---divorce?
______________________________________
Earlier version pub. 2003 in Mobius.
No comments:
Post a Comment