Walking to Work

But now I am walking to work

along College Avenue in Poughleepsie, under
a dripping braid of naked branches. High
above my head a saltwater spindrift shimmering
of gulls: hungry yellow eyes cast down,
thye've followed the river this far
from the reach of salt, bring with them
a hint of our back garden in Dublin, my father
tossing leftover scraps in the grass
and watching those wide white copewings flap
and batter. They'd open their throats to
chicken bones....
.......................then cast implacble heads
back, wailing. Such anarchy and appetite
dazzled his slow, encumbered blood; his
silent tongue would sting
with their otherwordly, heartless salt.