This week’s poem is by Richard Foerster of Cape Neddick. His most recent book is “River Road,” published by Texas Review Press.

 

Shorebirds in October

By Richard Foerster

 

The waves retreat, leaving a steam-rolled stretch

down Long Sands Beach, where a sea-soaked Irish setter

is chasing a flock of sandpipers. The dog thinks Go fetch

and gallops the thin sheen, getting wetter and wetter.

 

Like a brassy god, nymph-struck, he reaches his prize

as they veer off then bank, in Blue Angel formation,

back and forth. Though escape would be easy, they tantalize

the ungainly, indefatigable dog.

 

What made these lithe Ariels pause in their long migration

to play, just days ahead of the rattling cogs

of the season bearing down the coast like a tank?

 

Someone whistles, and the dog trots off, realizing

the familiar urgencies of home, giving thanks

perhaps for a glimpsed grace, this brief visitation.

 

In Verse: Maine Places and People is produced by Dennis Camire. He can be reached at dcamire@cmcc.edu.

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