To the Sea Lion on the Recreation Trail
I see your eyes roll
To track the sole of my shoe
As I step over your head.
You close your lids
Ignoring bike wheels, dog paws
Legs of passersby who cover their noses
And point their cameras.
The heavy bodies of your kind
Sprawl across recycled plastic benches
Piling on each other
Bite scar to bite scar
At rest on landscape turned dirt.
I am here at the edge of your sea
You are here at the edge of my concrete
Our ears ring with bulls’ bellows and traffic’s drone
Our eyes meet with wonder and weariness
There are too many of you, we say.
That is the earth’s honest truth.
But none of us will retreat
While anchovies and chowder bowls remain
We will stay
Beyond what this edge can carry.
Jodi Stiles is an emerging poet, naturalist, and teacher from Monterey, California. Her poetry looks at society through the lens of landscape ecology and changing environments.
I see your eyes roll
To track the sole of my shoe
As I step over your head.
You close your lids
Ignoring bike wheels, dog paws
Legs of passersby who cover their noses
And point their cameras.
The heavy bodies of your kind
Sprawl across recycled plastic benches
Piling on each other
Bite scar to bite scar
At rest on landscape turned dirt.
I am here at the edge of your sea
You are here at the edge of my concrete
Our ears ring with bulls’ bellows and traffic’s drone
Our eyes meet with wonder and weariness
There are too many of you, we say.
That is the earth’s honest truth.
But none of us will retreat
While anchovies and chowder bowls remain
We will stay
Beyond what this edge can carry.
Jodi Stiles is an emerging poet, naturalist, and teacher from Monterey, California. Her poetry looks at society through the lens of landscape ecology and changing environments.
