by Gillian Nevers
Hummingbird, First Thing, Birthday Morning
Before coffee. Backlit by the mid-risen sun
blazing white over the gray sea, whirr
of beating wings hidden by surf pounding,
you appear,
Oh, little messenger
of the day to come.
Before the sun arcs high
in the late March sky, sending
splashes of light like shards of glass glinting
over the water, before the sea turns
three shades of turquoise, before
fishermen seine bait in the shallows, before
umbrellas scatter stripes of green and yellow and orange
across the sand and snorkel boats gather
at the reef, and before you drop
to suckle the pink bougainvillea,
my heart slows, knowing the nectar
this day will bring.
Spring Thaw
The cottonwood I lived in as a child was
filled with nests of sleeping snakes,
tangled together until spring thaw
when they’d unwind, separate themselves
from the puzzle of each other and slither
out from the hole in the trunk, glide
into fields and gardens and, if there was
a sudden cold spell, damp cellars, where they’d
coil around the base of hot water heaters
or under wash tubs, so, when the woman of the house
came down the stairs to throw a load of laundry
into the wringer washer, a wicker basket resting
against her left hip, she’d carry a large broom
in her right hand. Not, because she was
afraid of snakes. They had a purpose, mind you.
Still, she didn’t like being surprised by them,
and always kept one ear open.
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Gillian Nevers’ poems have appeared in Silk Road, Miller’s Pond, Wisconsin People and Ideas, Pearl, Pirenes Fountain, Verse Wisconsin, Oak Bend Review, Right Hand Pointing, Architrave Press, and several other print and online literary magazines. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2011 and won second prize in the 2008 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters statewide poetry contest. Gillian lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband, Dan, and dog, San Rocco. She spends two to three weeks in the Yucatan every March, and has done so for over twenty years. She can usually be found in the quiet beachside community of Puerto Morelos, but, every so often will take a side trip to Valladolid and Merida.
Art by Judith Shaw
The Merida Review 