by Jeanie Greenfelder
Birds reclaim their beach,
lounge in the sun or set up
umbrellas for shade. Some
picnic, others watch waves.
In truth, on this cloudy morning,
one gull almost hits me with a clam
as he flies and drops it over and over
until it cracks. Then he gorges.
Only two cyclists and one surfer
dot the distant shoreline as
Harbor Patrol trucks watch for
people too close to one another.
And me, I’m with willets,
terns, godwits, and gulls.
Free from germ concerns,
I inhale birdsong.
Jeanie Greenfelder’s poems have been published at American Life in Poetry, and Writers’ Almanac; in anthologies: Paris, Etc., Pushing the Envelope: Epistolary Poems; and in journals: Miramar, Thema, Askew, Persimmon Tree, and others. The San Luis Obispo County poet laureate, 2017,18, Jeanie’s books are: Biting the Apple, Marriage and Other Leaps of Faith, and I Got What I Came For. jeaniegreensfelder.com
