This is my place,
Provincetown’s quiet eastside coast.
Let my distant auk relatives
claim the boring inlands.
Each dawn I take my perch,
lone tall rock on submerged jetty.
Preen patiently,
wait for morning sun.
Dawn tints the sky,
glistens ocean path.
My rock is center stage,
lone gull in nature’s spotlight.
I dipfish in shallows when schools swim by.
Clams succumb to my drop and crack maneuver.
I pick and peck lobsters asunder. Swallow as is.
Melted butter a human absurdity.
You are not alone, you know,
bragging on your mythology.
Gull lore says that generations ago,
pilgrims landed in Provincetown.
My ancestors met them,
an entire colony of gulls.
Squawked so loud those humans left,
sailed on to Plymouth Rock,
obnoxiously omitting us from history.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Sarah has provided an interesting prompt entitled Creepies and Crawlies. She introduces us to the idea of writing in the first person, as a spider, a cockroach, a butterfly, a dragonfly, or, I may be taking poetic license here, an animal of our choice. Since we are in Provincetown at the very tip of Cape Cod, I’m writing from the perspective of the gull pictured in the photo I took this morning as I watched a new day dawn in this amazing place. And, it is true. The pilgrims first landed in Provincetown but for some reason, they sailed on to Plymouth and thus the famous Plymouth Rock and the overlooked history of America’s beginning.
To read a short poem about the same photo, from the human perspective, click here.
lillian the home poet 
Oh, those gulls,I think we have a love-hate relationship with them… they probably see us the same… good for food, but always in the way.
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Yep!
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The secret role played by the gulls in human history! I love this idea. There are so many back in my hometown, and it’s not even by the sea: they come to feast on leftover junk food abandoned after late nights…
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Those are my boring inland relatives who are uncouth. We gulls on the coast are much more graceful and civilized 🙂
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Oh, I imagine so – I saw one of your kind swallow a burger whole in Blackpool! 🍔 😅
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Wonderful mind-melding with the gull sitting in the center of glory. What a magnificent shot this morning.
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Your piece could not be more gullish, Lillian. Thanks for bringing us inside the birdbrain. AND for the suggestion about why the Pilgrims might’ve opted out. Awesome!
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Why Lillian Livingston Seagull indeed; a wonderful dive into gulldum. On WA’s coast the crows bully the gulls, quite the battle royal.
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Lovely! I went on a little holiday to Tasmania in January last year (summer here). I noticed the gulls were kind of stamping in the shallow wave extrusions. I assume they were bringing little mites to the surface or something? Anyway, it was super cool to watch. Like they were tap dancing.
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I love this, and the idea gulls would disdain melted butter, given the option, lol.
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They do squawk rather loudly but, they are fun to watch.
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Plymouth Rock is rather disappointing anyway, gull. You have your whole island to call home!
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Gulls take this theme into a whole new area. I imagine gulls do have some of those ulterior motives you give them.
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Nice to meet you Ms. Gull and look at the world from your perspective.
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The humans left. That’s funny. Your POV is fun to read, kind Gull. Thanks for sharing.
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A great take on the gulls Lillian. Your ending is just perfect!
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A gorgeous photo and lovely poem, Lillian! I like how you referenced the geography and Pilgrims too 🙂
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Love the last two stanzas – the history lesson and the self-righteous narrator
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Loveth3 history lesson here by the gulls, and the melted butter, a human absurdity! I love sea gulls.
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