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- Pelicans in December by J. Allyn Rosser
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One can’t help admiring
their rickety grace
and old-world feathers
like seasoned boardwalk planks.
They pass in silent pairs,
as if a long time ago
they had wearied of calling out.
The wind tips them, their
ungainly, light-brown weight,
into a prehistoric wobble,
wings’-end fingers stretching
from fingerless gloves,
necks slightly tucked and stiff,
peering forward and down,
like old couples arm in arm
on icy sidewalks, careful,
careful, mildly surprised
by how difficult it has become
to stay dignified and keep moving
even after the yelping gulls have gone;
even after the scattered sand,
and the quietly lodged complaints.
Poem copyright ©2014 by J. Allyn Rosser, “Pelicans in December,” from Mimi’s Trapeze, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of J. Allyn Rosser and the publisher.
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J. Allyn Rosser was born in Pennsylvania and attended Middlebury College in Vermont as well as the University of Pennsylvania where she earned a doctorate. Her works include Bright Moves (1990), winner of the Morse Poetry Prize; Misery Prefigured (2001), winner of the Crab Orchard Award; Foiled Again, winner of The New Criterion Poetry Prize; and Mimi's Trapese (2014). Her poetry has also been published in such periodicals as The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, and Ninth Letter. Rosser is a member of the faculty at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
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Poems By J. Allyn Rosser
- Subway Seethe
- Sea Urchin
- Handle
- You've Got It Made
- In the (Subjunctive) Mood
- The Dropping of a Name
- My Father's Palette
- Clippings
- Remains
- Advice for the Unadvisable
- Timeline
- Soundtrack of a Desert Documentary
- Much Later
- The Sum Contradiction of Our Shades
- Buffalo Bayou
- Deep Pond at Dusk in Heavy Rain against Pines
- Raven
- Late Letter
- Before the Sickness Is Official
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SEA AND RAIN - LOVER RELEASE AGREEMENT
- Eschatology of the Lexicon
- Street Boy
- Lullaby for the Second Millennium
- Sugar Dada
- Meeting on the Street
- Literature
- Death Dance
- Internal Revenue
- Then Too There Is This
- Gym Dance with the Doors Wide Open
- The Smell of Rat Rubs Off
- Getting There
- The Mirror Does It for the Bug
- Sole Blessing
- Impromptu
- Night Drive
- As If
- (This Line Intentionally Left Blank)
- Pelicans in December
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Poetry
The oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English language.
