This week’s poem is by Richard Foerster of Cape Neddick. His most recent book is “River Road,” published by Texas Review Press.
Shorebirds in October
By Richard Foerster
The waves retreat, leaving a steam-rolled stretch
down Long Sands Beach, where a sea-soaked Irish setter
is chasing a flock of sandpipers. The dog thinks Go fetch
and gallops the thin sheen, getting wetter and wetter.
Like a brassy god, nymph-struck, he reaches his prize
as they veer off then bank, in Blue Angel formation,
back and forth. Though escape would be easy, they tantalize
the ungainly, indefatigable dog.
What made these lithe Ariels pause in their long migration
to play, just days ahead of the rattling cogs
of the season bearing down the coast like a tank?
Someone whistles, and the dog trots off, realizing
the familiar urgencies of home, giving thanks
perhaps for a glimpsed grace, this brief visitation.
In Verse: Maine Places and People is produced by Dennis Camire. He can be reached at dcamire@cmcc.edu.
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