finback
swift, silver-skinned
catches bright glint of sky
nudges the pod, nurtures us both
o whale

flounder
flat sand-sleeper
forever looking up
we grimace, gulls and terns chuckle
dead fish

high tide
cold, hungry green
swashing the sunbathers
shivering, we flee its sharp teeth
sharkwave

water
salty moonchild
rushing from birth to death
our blood answers when she beckons
Mother!



~~~~~~~
Vonnie Winslow Crist is a Maryland State Arts Council Poet, teaching poetry residencies in the Artists-in-Education Program. Her publications include two poetry collections from Lite Circle Books, River of Stars and Essential Fables; numerous individual poems, essays, and stories in journals and anthologies; and a children's book from the Vegetarian Resource Group, Leprechaun Cake & Other Tales. She holds an M.S. in Professional Writing from Towson University.