Parakeet Poem by Linda Straub

Lazy Way out

Seed from the bottom
of the parakeet cage
cascades over a ledge
and down the red brick wall.

An assortment of weeds
sprouts in the lily bed,
slender shoots, an offering
to the gardener’s cupped hand.

A tiger striped kitten
pounces on a mound
of fresh green leaves
shimmying up a cross breeze.

A young girl returns
to her bedroom window,
sowing seed to the wind–
The gardener waits.

8/02

(2)
Retired Seaman

The captain sits
at the breakfast table
scrimshawing voyages.
Cafe curtain sails
billow in morning’s bluster.

His shore wife leans
over the porch railing,
aging figurehead
counting goldfish
in a landlocked pond.

The clapboard house lists,
half-foundering to port.

Previously published in miller’s pond – 2001 edition

***