not about creation

photography by man of aran

mallard duck and great blue heron, photos: alan girling

not about creation, not about destruction  

This is about a pod of orcas 
swimming an early morning Juan de Fuca
and a man there in a small skiff, 
praying for deliverance; 

this is about dolphins jumping 
alongside tankers on the Salish, 
how they veer north, 
indifferent to the idea of a race;

this is about a great blue heron, 
half-hidden in the rushes 
on the Fraser delta, 
head tucked beneath her wing 
while overhead 
a seaplane sputters; 

this is about a beaver 
plowing through red algae 
spread across the surface 
of the slough at Terra Nova,
where long before  
he lodged himself;

this is about a mallard,
one webbed foot ravaged, 
who spins, spins furiously,
in a Stanley Park stream,
about how no one yet
has waded in,
but someone will,
to grab hold, raise high, 
then release, 
his wings to be 
caught by a gust, 
how it lifts him 
up over the willows  
out across the body 
called English Bay 
and on to the slough, 
the river, the sea, the strait 
to reach the edge  
of the great Pacific, 
then beyond,
alive in the world 
and moving 
with all others. 

beaver at Terra Nova, Richmond, B.C. photo: alan girling