Understanding Seagulls

by Franci Louann

Photography by Christine Rice

for Lloyd Albert Gall (1946-2015)

in Ontario
thirty miles inland from Lake Huron
when seagulls dotted our fields
we thought:    storm coming

here    by the Fraser
from the sixteenth floor
we watch seagulls
and I think:    storm

but you say
they are playing—
white and slate wings
float on wind    the updraft

your spirits soar with them—
you’ve written poems
about this
twenty years ago, already

now
mid-chemo    pre-surgery
in the middle of     your storm
your spirits soar     with seagulls

I was  somewhat cheered
by your lesson…

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Franci Louann lives near the Fraser River. Her 'most northern' poem here refers to an activity on a river near Whistler. Franci has also been published as Fran Workman. Her poems and her volunteer work around poetry have received awards. She helps manage Poets Corner in Vancouver.