Splash of a wave, and the red-crested cardinals
come bounding over towards where I’m sitting.
It’s a distance too short for flight. They fidget
a bit in my proximity, then flap wings and go.
The Hawaiian kids are out there with their surfboards, waiting
for the perfect wave. I’m a little stunned
for lack of sleep.
………………………….A pair of zebra doves
pay a visit, pecking about the grass.
I’m in the close shade
of an old twisty pink trumpet tree.
Out there a sailboat
raises its bright green sail,
and the morning proceeds.
Ken Norris was born in New York City in 1951. He came to Canada in the early 1970s, to escape Nixon-era America and to pursue his graduate education. He completed an M.A. at Concordia University and a Ph.D. in Canadian Literature at McGill University. He became a Canadian citizen in 1985. Norris is Professor Emeritus at the University of Maine, where he taught Canadian literature and Creative Writing for thirty-three years. He currently resides in Toronto.
