My grandfather called the birds, seagulls, that
followed his plow in spring. They were so very white
against newly turned soil—so far from the sea
When Jonathan Livingston Seagull arrived,
I poured over and over the paperback willing
Jonathan’s hard won wisdom to become part of me
Walking the beach after divorce, I wondered
if the curious speckled seagulls following me
were young or old
In a new city, a seagull walked in circles
and was told: “They die like that from
pesticides”
Now I wonder if seagulls migrate—
and why I hadn’t before
___
Carol Smallwood co-edited (Molly Peacock, foreword) Women on Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (McFarland, 2012); Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity and Other Realms (Anaphora Literary Press, 2011) was nominated for the Pushcart. Women Writing on Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing, (Key Publishing House, 2012) is her most recent book. Her sixth anthology for the American Library Association, Bringing Arts into the Library, is forthcoming. Some magazine credits include: The Writer’s Chronicle, English Journal.