32nd & Seagull
Along 32ndStreet
there’s a little house
sometimes with a seagull
standing on the rooftop.
When it’s there it makes noise
turning and shaking its wings out.
Sometimes another gull appears.
I only see these things if I’m out
walking the dog, or going to the store.
With the whole town to nest on
it’s odd for a bird to land there.
There’s nothing about the place
to notice. Sometimes I forget
which house has the seagull on it.
One day as I walked past
a man was kneeling on the sidewalk.
He was digging dandelions.
I stopped and said hello.
He looked up and cupped his ear
as I asked, “What’s the story with
that seagull on top of your house?”
He didn’t mind telling me,
“It started showing up three years ago.”
“Do you feed it anything?” I asked.
I pictured him throwing fish up there.
At my bus stop once I saw a woman
wearing a bright pink bathrobe
tossing bread on the roof of her house.
Seagulls and crows were perched
all around, waiting for her to leave.
“No,” he said. “He just chose me.”
