“White Pelican” by Sher Schwartz

March 27, 2024

“White Pelican” by Sher Schwartz

White Pelican

fifty years of threaded marriage
woven connections broken
her body sickens strands untwine
her spirit though still sings
a clear young soprano her
broken-open milky pool
American pelicans circle
enormous white lusty throated birds
pondering, patient, and sturdy
webbed feet paddle, a surge,
a thrust of snowy teardrops spraying
white wings seen as black underneath
the birds burst up into their heavy glide
and it’s the up-up
we children love
to see her rise

I am grateful to Light Ekphrastic journal for publishing this poem (2023).

Afterward for “White Pelican” by Sher Schwartz

Discover more from Sher Poetry

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Afterward, Sher’s Voice

American White Pelican, Divorce

Posted by:

Sher Schwartz

http://sherpoetry.wordpress.com/

9 responses to ““White Pelican” by Sher Schwartz”

Anonymous

March 27, 2024 at 8:50 pm

the first time i read this poem it brought tears to my eyes. so very beautiful and profound metaphor. thanks for sharing.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. Sher Schwartz
  
  March 27, 2024 at 8:54 pm
  
  My mom is in her 80’s quite the late beautiful blossom
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Reply
dalechamp

March 27, 2024 at 9:38 pm

I have seen white pelicans drifting on the Columbia River. My mother too is a white pelican. At 97 she is suffering the loss of her third spouse.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
Anonymous

March 28, 2024 at 7:02 am

My mom and I would regularly sit in the tiny doctor’s rooms at Waters Edge. She would always request (sometimes insist) we have a waterside room. We would watch the pelicans together. Your stanza “her broken-open milky pool” guided me to reflect on the slow emptying of her life force and me a witness my mother’s (milk) evaporating.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. Sher Schwartz
  
  March 28, 2024 at 7:23 am
  
  Thank you for sharing those memories. It has been interesting to me how many people relate to the white pelican. I just had another friend, and there were two last night who texted and told me -they had particular memories of the white pelican. And another listener shared her brief story of seeing her 97 year old mother as a white pelican too. These birds resonate with us. I shouldn’t be surprised as they are such magnificent beings and of course we notice them–thankfully we notice them.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Reply
Anonymous

March 28, 2024 at 11:53 am

A beautiful and intricately constructed poem. My favorite line is “her spirit though still sings.” I also love the description of the pelicans taking off- “a thrust of snowy teardrops spraying.” And the ending is triumphant. Thank you.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. Sher Schwartz
  
  March 28, 2024 at 2:39 pm
  
  Thank you for your thoughtful comments. It’s wonderful to know what resonates with readers
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
Anonymous

March 28, 2024 at 8:38 pm

The verse—like the pelican—soars!

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
annedfarley

April 1, 2024 at 3:00 pm

Beautiful! Doesn’t everyone have a spirit bird?

LikeLike

Reply

About Me

“I’m a retired Humanities professor, published essayist, poet, painter, singer, and old-time fiddle musician living on an historic two-hundred-acre farm in Eastern Oregon. I plant gardens for pollinators and revel in insects, bird dogs, donkeys, goats, cats, and American fantail and roller pigeons. My lyric landscapes are oak savannah, prairie, and riparian. Writing poetry gives me a way to express and question the rhythms I hear. My chapbook The Beautiful One’s Ark (2024) is available through The Poetry Box and online bookstores. Sher Poetry celebrates poetry as an oral language art. Each week I’ll share a poem from some of my work or from that of other poets who I love to hear.