Birds of the Berkeley Marina (The Secret of the Sea Pt.II, Chap.3)

In which the Berkeley Flaneur  hikes deep into the Berkeley Marina on an ornithological dig.

Begin here

All across the purple heather

 Walk in through a grassland preserve

The female blackbird sits on a nest

right along side the asphalt

The male guards the scene, he followed me on

It's a strange place, land where the Bay was

Artificial nature

Looking back toward Berkeley

An index of our feathered friends

California poppies and fennel grow between the boulders

These poppies radiated so vividly

I trespassed over a wire fence to get close

A  jack-rabbit bounded out of subterranean catacombs as I did

Down to the Bay

 at the Northernmost point
Rocks like black fractals

My sacred spot

 Owned by no one open to all

At home in the great outdoors

A striking red wing blackbird

perched on a dry fennel stalk

The friend I came here to meet

He would just soar in the steady onshore wind

And get to the top of the sky

And for a boundless instant
I'm up there with him

Then he brings me right down again safely

hovering over his nest of  bright green fennel

like a military jet straight up and down

Sky Window

Just beyond it, my point of contemplation

Around toward the Berkeley breakwater

and past it the extraordinarily Berkeley pier

Vaguely evident is the new Bay bridge etcetera

Lovely in its Easter raiment,

this hardy copse endures constant wind

It faces the Golden Gate directly across the Bay

Back past the boats

No local people ever ride these Hornblower boats

Strictly for the marks who stay at the touristy hotels

Some fortunate few get to stay here all night, every night

Unlike the Flaneur who must cross a field of poppies

before he falls asleep

31 April 2014