Vashon Writing Residency

Print Order: 19 Tags: beach (https://www.notion.so/beach-ba2ada75cff64283b21c86bc4c9121b3?pvs=21), nature (https://www.notion.so/nature-1cb9a8d1c8c14914a35b0a5b1580fc6b?pvs=21), wildlife (https://www.notion.so/wildlife-bca221f12d664a198e9d76713398740e?pvs=21), writing (https://www.notion.so/writing-fa12d469b2c74b98b70dbc78eb86f709?pvs=21)

Vashon Writing Residency

Julene Tripp Weaver

From my window I watch Canadian

geese on the lawn alongside Quartermaster

Harbor. The couple walks daily, pecking

grass, seeking food, holding each other

company, till one day they have an argument—

squawking, the wings on one flails wide

haranguing their spouse. What is wrong

between them to set their universe askew?

Easter Sunday rain pours down. In my room,

I transcended the deluge, diligently working on

edits. Waves choppy on the harbor, a five

mile inlet filled with pollution years ago

from a plant in Tacoma—the push of the sea

knocks against the floating dock. In this shallow

harbor no marine traffic passes. Signs warn

not to harvest toxic shellfish. Ducks, Canadian

geese, and osprey can’t read—so they feast,

broken shells litter the spit.

I let go my goal to harvest Dandelion

when I learn the soil in paradise is toxic,

only raised beds are used to grow food.

I enjoy the beauty—the daily sky,

each sunset, the rise and fall of the shoreline,

safe in a well-built house. We four share

a solid commitment to our art, indulged

in luxury, far from busy cluttered lives.

We nap when needed, welcome

the nurturance we give each other—

shared dinners—feasts of conversation—

growing a closer bond to our work.

Julene Tripp Weaver, a psychotherapist and writer in Seattle, worked in AIDS services for twenty-one years. Her third poetry collection, truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, and won the Bisexual Book Award. Her next book, Slow Now With Clear Skies, published by MoonPath Press, will be released by June 2024. Widely published, other work appears in HEAL, Mad Swirl, Anti-Heroin Chic, Feels Blind, and recent anthologies: I Sing the Salmon Home, and Rumors Secrets & Lies: Poems about Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice. http://www.julenetrippweaver.com