POETRY 30
by multiple poets
Winter 2025-26
Seagulls at the edge of the tide. photo by John F. Williams
POETRY 30
by multiple poets
Winter 2025-26
Recycle, a Watercolor
by Carl Jensen
A she gull lies flattened
the gray of her barely distinct from sand or sky.
Nearby the flock shifts with the tide
ever keen for crab and clam
a still life done in watercolor of mist shrouded
boulders walking into the Pacific.
This circle of life complete
her fight for life will be recycled
washed sparkling clean
but for a tinge of salt.
Gulls feasting on a crab. photo by John F. Williams
Invisible Togetherness
Bobbie Morgan
How small you are.
How big you are.
We are blind to you, but
we depend on you.
We don’t see you, but we need you.
You break down our waste into good dirt,
for our farms, for our food.
Little critters making compost magic.
You are here, have been here since earliest times.
Wiggling, working, wiggling, working.
We share this Earth with you, actinomycetes.
There.
I learned how to say your name.
We celebrate you, your working wiggles
and our invisible togetherness.
Thank you. Thank you.
Needle and leaf laden path. photo by John F. Williams
Foraging
by Joy Sprague
Deep in the woods
Down needle and leaf laden paths
Foraging for delicate delights
Hiding under shady salal
Nestled in damp forest floors
Their ruffled cornucopia only wildly grows
Rising to glimpse pine pierced skies
Where their spores take flight
While under the rich humus soil
An unseen mycelium underground weaves
Root tips kissing; a mycorrhizal relationship
A mutual reciprocity with conifers and hardwoods
Oak, Pine, Madrone and more
Morsels of an abundant aromatic feast
For deer, squirrels, birds and insects
Golden, Yellowfoot, and Black Trumpet fungi
Cousins who live near coast Salish Seas
Whatever they are named; a bountiful beauty
Chanterelles make taste buds sing
Bio for Carl Jensen
As a poet I try to capture the unbelievably true,
in love with opening the box each day not knowing
what will be there.
My heart is my family, Kay and our sons
Blake and Luke.
Poetry, like a parent, nurtures
but also protects what in us
is fragile.
Bobbie Morgan and her husband have lived on Bainbridge Island since 1994. She is a wife, mother and grandmother. She has been a middle school teacher, reading specialist and speech-language pathologist. And she has been an environmental and political activist for many years. She deeply appreciates the amazing world we live in and her poetry attempts to reflect that. Being part of the creative community around the Salish Sea is a source of joy.
Joy Sprague lives on beautiful Bainbridge Island surrounded by the Salish Sea. Her love of nature inspires her writing. Joy is mesmerized by bird song and abundant wildlife as she strolls beaches and woods near her home with her husband and their dog, Cooper. She enjoys hiking, pickleball, and kayaking.
Issue Page
Table of Contents, Issue #30, Winter 2025-26
Salmon: Upstream Recyclers
SALMON: UPSTREAM RECYCLERS by Paul Dorn Winter 2025-26Salmon alevins. photo by John Gussman by Paul Dorn Winter 2025-26The salmon life cycle begins with a tiny fertilized egg buried in clean freshwater stream gravel. Years later that egg has grown into an adult who...
Undertakers of the Forest
UNDERTAKERS OF THE FOREST Boreal Burying Beetles by Thomas Noland Winter 2025-26Boreal burying beetle (Nicrophorus defodiens). photo by Thomas Noland by Thomas Noland Winter 2025-26something rotten, something good I crawled out of the leaf litter this morning, and my...
Nature’s Recyclers — Big picture
by Dr. Adelia Ritchie Winter 2025-26View of myriad habitats in which nature recycles, from Norwegian Point, Washington. watercolor by Adelia Ritchie by Dr. Adelia Ritchie Winter 2025-26The Salish Sea, that vast inland waterway stretching between Washington and British...
The Slowdown on Slugs
by Sarah Ottino Winter 2025-26A disrupted banana slug has retracted its tentacles. photo by Sarah Ottino by Sarah Ottino Winter 2025-26As the drizzle and mud return, slugs emerge into the open. Moist and damp for much of the year, the Pacific Northwest is a slug...
Driftwood and Sand
by Gunnison Langley Winter 2025-26Driftwood logs on a beach. photo by Gunnison Langley by Gunnison Langley Winter 2025-26A stroll on the beach offers plentiful examples of how nature recycles. A late fall morning outing last year on the beach at Seattle’s Carkeek Park...
What the Tide Leaves Behind
by Celeste Hankins Winter 2025-26Rockweed at home on rocks on the beach. photo by John F. Williams by Celeste Hankins Winter 2025-26Kayaking through San Juan Islands. photo by Celeste HankinsI first noticed Pacific Rockweed shortly after moving from Lake Chelan in...
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