It’s Poetry Friday, at the end of another busy week for me.
I started the week with a writing retreat at Rottnest Island, a beautiful island off the coast of Western Australia. As well as getting some writing done, and having fun with my fellow retreaters (all members of SCBWI), I did a lot of walking, exploring the island and admiring the views and the amazing wildlife. Although the quokka – a small marsupial – is perhaps the cutest and best known animal resident – I was particularly taken with the pelicans, and walked up the beach following this pair as they paddled and fished in the shallows.
Which reminded me that I haven’t yet shared the poem which I have in the newly released Our Home Is Dirt By Sea, a collection of Australian poems for Australian kids, edited by Dianne Bates and published by Walker Books.
The poem which I contributed is called Paraphernalia.
Paraphernalia
At dawn or dusk
I trudge
cross sandy shore
with rod and reel
bait and bucket
tackle box
knife
and board,
hoping to catch
a fish or two
for dinner.
Pelican
has none
of this paraphernalia,
just one huge beak,
yet he seems to have more luck than me.
(Copyright Sally Murphy)
If you’d like to see more of Rottnest Island (or Rotto as West Australians call it), I made a photo-story of my walk around the island with my friend Sage Cookson.
Happy Friday. You can see the Poetry Friday roundup at Reflections on the Teche.
Fabulous poem, Sally! Pelicans are one my most favorite birds – fabulous fishing pros that they are! =)
Thanks Bridget. Mine too 🙂
I love the poem, and the videos, too, Sally. Your retreat sounds heavenly!
Thanks Karen. It was!
My parents had pelicans on their lake in central Mississippi. What fun to watch these amazing birds. Love the word paraphernalia.
Thanks Margaret.
I like the combination of your poem and Ogden Nash’s and the video. Three very different experiences!
Just the sound of those waves was enough of a catch for my day. I’ve never spent much time at any ocean, and I’ve NEVER watched pelicans feed. So thank you for both.
Thanks Mary – and you are welcome. I can’t imagine a life without the ocean.
Sally, the photo journal shows a place full of nature’s beauty-just right for writing. Thanks for sharing your enjoyable poem too. Maybe, you would like to send me a photo of one of travels in Aussie Land for my newest gallery, Summerscapes (and one of your micropoems).
Thanks Carol. I will see what I can come up with 🙂
Great poem! Aren’t pelicans fascinating to watch? Do you know the Ogden Nash limerick?
“A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
BUT I’M DAMNED IF I SEE HOW THE HELICAN!”
Thanks for sharing your poem and a glimpse of these wonderful birds!!
URL: http://able2know.org/topic/162471-1
Thanks Molly – and yes, I do know that poem, though the internet seems divided about whether or not Nash wrote it. I’ve always thought he did but when I thought about sharing it for PF I found a different poet attributed and left it until I had time to confirm either way.
Thank you for sharing your writing retreat and those pelicans with us. Your poem gets it exactly right: that “huge beak” is all a pelican needs!
Thanks Catherine 🙂
Hi Sally, you are always showing such gorgeous places. How wonderful to have such a beautiful place for a retreat. I love watching the pelicans when we travel to the ocean, but have never seen them work the shallows like this pair. Congrats on your poem. We humans need a lot of stuff to replicate what animals do with such ease. Thanks!
Thanks for visiting Linda. Glad to share my adventures with you 🙂
A delightful poem, Sally. And lovely, tranquil video to accompany it.
There is so much on your blog of late! I’m beginning to think Sage Cookson is more than just a plastic face – that indeed, she has the ability to blog on her own. You are surely doing more than the work of one!
Thanks for visiting Kat. Yup – I have Sage tied to the computer when she’s not off travelling 🙂