Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by Tricia HERE. Thank you, Tricia, for hosting. I hope everyone is anticipating a peaceful summer. Mine will be a little busy and exciting, too, as our eldest son is getting married in San Francisco this summer. Big Yay!!!
There is no planning for me to do. (Another Big Yay!!!) I only hope we will get there in some appropriate wedding clothes.
I’m beginning this post with a quote.
LIVE IN THE SUNSHINE, SWIM IN THE SEA, DRINK THE WILD AIR. Ralph Waldo Emerson, found here.)
When I visited Santa Cruz, California last winter for a family visit, we walked along the ocean walkway drinking in the wild air and sea.
I was astounded, the density of wildlife, like these cormorants below, hanging out on rocks. I wrote a haiku previously about them for National Poetry Month Here.
I saw seals swimming under a pier, and mossy rocks like these, covered with pelicans:
The natural environment here, this amazing setting, is a magnet for surfers in wet suits, with a surfing museum and monuments to celebrate the sport:
SANTA CRUZ HAIKU Pelicans and seals Surfers out chasing the waves— Earth their canvas.
A memorial to surfers who lived their lives celebrating the waves:
But the sky, the ocean and the wildlife, though resilient, are fragile.
A Walk on the Santa Cruz Beach How can it be that human life can change something as huge and ancient as our planet? Today, I walk softly-- in awe of the thousands of cormorants and pelicans diving and fishing along the Santa Cruz coast, on rocks glistening black. ©Janice Scully 2023
What would Santa Cruz be like without the rugged coastline, the birds, and the surfers? What would Syracuse, my home, be like without hills, lakes, and hundreds of robins to hear and watch?
What is the environment like where you live, the plants and animals that you think is special, that you’d like to protect? In the Badlands of South Dakota, below, perhaps rattlesnakes help make it a special place, to be respected.
Thank you, Tricia, for hosting. Happy June!!!