MY WALK by Doug Raphael

I thought I was the first

to lay tracks

through the snow

blanketing the boardwalk

this morning. But when I

stepped onto the wharf

two sea otters

were wrapped in each other

like children tussling

on the playground. Their oil

slick coats – tinselled.

Whiskers ice caped.

Paw prints – the bare feet

of perfectly pressed

snow angels. I watched

as they twisted and

braided tails, nudged and

butted black button noses. I swear

they were laughing

lost in a world outside

the slate banks of the iron

bridge. Then one

looked up

with wild full moon eyes

then the other bewildered

paralyzed. And in that moment

the seagulls went silent

the harbour froze

the wind stopped howling and

I become the piercing pitch

of the school bell – 

sending them slipping

into the sea

a gifted memory,

this morning.

Doug Raphael is an architect living in Nova Scotia, Canada with his three children, wife and Wheaten Terrier. He has been published in The Poetry Lighthouse, The Big Window Review, Oddball Magazine, Discretionary Love, The Groke, and forthcoming in Cerasus Poetry and The Kismet, amongst others. He is enrolled in the creative writing program at Dalhousie University and is working on making writing a full-time gig.