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black headed gull

POETRY

THE GULLS OF VENICE

David Selzer By David Selzer0 Comments1 min read1.2K views

‘Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know in life’.

THE STONES OF VENICE John Ruskin

 

Many things are forbidden in Venice:

sitting on the steps in St Mark’s Square;

hailing water taxis from water bus pontoons;

putting out food waste except on the hook

provided between the designated hours

in order to deter gabbiani;

of which there are two species, compatriots,

the black-headed gull and the herring gull,

comune and reale respectively,

‘common’ and ‘royal’ surprisingly,

perched opportunely on bricole,

the stout oak posts that have always marked

the lagoon’s few navigable channels,

or raucous overhead, out of sight, a

remembrance of home, above the still canals,

the silent alleyways.

 

 

 

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David Selzer By David Selzer
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POETRY

AT THE YEAR’S TURNING

David Selzer By David Selzer9 Comments1 min read1.9K views

I pause at the long window where the stairs turn.

The first hard frost of the season has rimed

the moss on the terrace. A neighbour has thrown,

as she does daily, stale bread on the flat roof

of her garage. Two Jackdaws arrive

then a small flock of Black-headed gulls

in winter plumage. The first comers

are aggressive. The gulls hover, swoop, feint,

feed swiftly, rise, return – like dancers.

(How truly ancient is these animal’s

ancestry! How arriviste we primates are!).

All, even the crows, are utterly silent.

 

I think of last summer: a beach in heat haze

and our three and a half year old grand daughter,

chuckling, chasing, gently, a Black-headed gull –

that had been intent on scavenging

crusts and crisps among the profligate –

then watching it take wing into the mist.

 

By the year’s end, to my unceasing surprise,

we will be seventy one. We have been

together many more years than apart,

so best to assume we will always be here –

and be deaf to the certainty of silence.

 

 

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David Selzer By David Selzer
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