Donna Hilbert Verse-Virtual 2016 June

June 2016

Shortly before he was killed, my husband and I moved to a rattle-trap beach house on the peninsula in Long Beach. Going to sleep to the sound of the surf and waking to dolphins and pelicans sustained me through the almost unbearable grief. Making the place habitable gave me a task; writing gave me purpose. I am still here, loving the place, taking nothing for granted. www.donnahilbert.com

Author's Note: Living at the edge of the Pacific ocean as I do, reinforces the two-sided nature of being—pleasure and pain, life and death, bound inextricably, as I am reminded daily as I walk, swim, or look out the window.

Gesture

My hand is raised,
as if to wave,
when I emerge from the sea,
mask and snorkel askew.
My friend who snaps this picture
thinks I’m greeting him.
But, no.
I’m holding my sliced palm
above my heart,
primitive gesture meant
to stay the flow of blood.
I’ve been tossed to coral
again
in the midst of bliss.

From The Green Season, 2nd Edition, World Parade Books

Where it Happened

At the seam of water and sand
a lone blue heron stands.
And in the placid sea
its distant kin: the pelican.
On such mornings
all birds are silver, all words are song:
silver water, silver light
birds in flight
and after.

Weeks ago, sirens
lured me from my work
and on my perch
above the beach, I watched
as lifeguards pulled
a girl from water to sand.
There is no way to sing this.

It is noon:
the light is not silver,
nothing is placid
the spectral birds elsewhere,
but two policemen are here
with a man and woman. The parents.
This is where it happened.
I didn’t see her face
that day, only her torso
her pale arms, still legs.
And her swimsuit,
her scarlet swimsuit.

From The Congress of Luminous Bodies, 2013

Naked in an Open Boat
“A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls into the sea.”
-Joseph Conrad
The boat is white
it has no sail
the sea is dark
my skin is pale
the night is hot,
but in the boat
if it were open
if I were bare
if the moon were new
I’d find you there

From The Congress of Luminous Bodies, 2013