swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

Of a Feather
Gerard Sarnat & David London

← back or next →

OF A FEATHER?

i. This Is Their Time

6:39 AM as our forest
Begins to dawn

Like every morning
The pair of owls

Hoot-hoot light in
Just as they did it

Out starting night’s
Work at dusk.

Ger and his spouse
Who together

Over breakfast/tea
Feel privileged

To witness above
Must admit we

Do wonder if birds
Now quiet again

Somewhere above
In trees might be

Monogamous for
Life maybe same

Perhaps you or me?
Or otherwise

That current spouses
At times share

Mouses elsewhere?

ii. Back To The Future

In truth, most birds aren’t monogamous.

Plus there are parasite fowl

who lay their eggs in other species’ nests.

But no problemo – sorta like Justice Barrett’s

solution to ban abortion:  just drop off newborn

in the nearest “safe haven.”

← back or next →

Gerard Sarnat won San Francisco Poetry’s 2020 Contest, the Poetry in the Arts First Place Award plus the Dorfman Prize, and has been nominated for handfuls of 2021 and previous Pushcarts plus Best of the Net Awards. Gerry is widely published including in The Deronda Review, Jewish Writing Project, Hong Kong Review, Tokyo Poetry Journal, Buddhist Poetry Review, Gargoyle, Main Street Rag, New Delta Review, Arkansas Review, Hamilton-Stone Review,Northampton Review, New Haven Poetry Institute, Texas Review, Vonnegut Journal, Brooklyn Review, San Francisco Magazine, Monterey Poetry Review, The Los Angeles Review, and The New York Times as well as by Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia, North Dakota, McMaster and University of Chicago presses. He’s authored the collections Homeless Chronicles, Disputes, 17s, Melting the Ice King. Gerry is a Harvard-trained physician who’s built and staffed clinics for the marginalized as well as a Stanford professor and healthcare CEO. Currently he is devoting energy/ resources to deal with climate justice, and serves on Climate Action Now’s board. Gerry’s been married since 1969 with three kids plus six grandsons, and is looking forward to potential future granddaughters.

David London is a fellow physician.