Joan SafajekApril Light
My son shows his children
how to wrap squid around hooks
on bamboo poke poles
the way I taught him to do it
when he was a child.
As they slip their rods into pools
under rocks exposed at low tide,
afternoon shadows of seagulls
slide across the cliffs.The boy catches an eel,
swings it around in circles
above his head, thick and black
twisting on the bent pole
while the dog chases after.His sister abandons fishing
to search for abalone shells
and bits of polished sea glass.
Underwater, kelp leaves flash
slivers of incandescent blue.As the tide shifts and flows in
we climb back up the bluff
along a narrow rock ledge,
make our way through wet grass
and thick blackberry brush
each finding our own footholds
in loose scree and rutted gullies,
wildflowers in the fields above
luscious in April light.
Bio:
Joan Safajek is a psychotherapist in private practice in Felton. She lives on the river in a 1920's summer cottage with her cat and dog (a big sweet coon hound mix) and enjoys frequent excursions with her grandchildren. "April Light" is forthcoming in The Anthology of Monterey Bay Poets.
