Pelican Coast

Beak to beak, over eggs, over time

Pelican flies into a tree
Where seagull awaits
A nest grows

Seagull and pelican
Beak to beak
Over eggs

Teaching them
To fish
To fly

Pelican flies into a tree
During a storm
Blue-footed booby
Stares

Pelican pauses
Seagull swims in his mind

Pelican
And booby
Beak to beak
On a thin branch
Over eggs

Pelican flies
From tree to tree

Pauses
Seagull and booby swim in his mind
Webbed feet
Beak to beak
On a thin branch
Over eggs

So many thin branches
Some broken

Pelican flies.

A poem by Pemba Umoja