On the grey-white sands of
Howard Beach, a flock of terns
stood huddled on the sands
as choppy waves rolled ashore
under the bluest of skies with
a bright and shining sun,
until a crazy Cuban ran right
through the flock waving his
hands trying to scatter them,
but they only fluttered for a
moment or two up to six feet
into the air to settle right back
down into their security as
though nothing had ever happened.
—
Richard F. Fleck, now 88, has published a number of collections over the years, the first being Palms, Peaks and Prairies, 1967 and the most recent being Bamboo in the Sun: Poems of Japan, 2020. His many books include A Colorado River Reader, 2000, Desert Rims to Mountains High, 2013, and Henry Thoreau and John Muir among the Native Americans, 2016. He is a retired professor of American literature and Native American Studies at the University of Wyoming with visiting appointments at Osaka University, Japan and the University of Bologna, Italy.
