Happy Pelican

by Donna Levine Gershon

I crane so I can see him
as I cross the marsh.
I should be watching
the guy in front of me,
but I am dying
to be out of this car.

Maybe I am out of this body,
near dead of congestive traffic
and failure to thrive.
Soon I will see the bright light
in my rear-view mirror.
He is smiling, I swear he is.

Donna Levine Gershon’s poetry has been published in Kakalak 2007: Anthology of Carolina Poets, Literary Mama, and Xanadu. She was first runner-up for the 2007 South Carolina Poetry Initiative’s Single Poem Contest. She is the Managing Editor of Garden & Gun magazine in Charleston, South Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their two daughters.