Walking down Front Street, I saw him first — sitting

on the mast — but I wasn’t sure and thought

perhaps he was like those owl decoys

you see on roofs or chimneys

*

I kept looking to see if he moved. He did.

He didn’t. I couldn’t tell

*

“Do you see that bird?” I asked, but she didn’t have

her glasses on and thought I was testing her.

“Not the gull on the streetlight. Farther

away. Bigger. On the mast

of that ship”

*

We never did solve the riddle of that bird. We had

to check out of the hotel and head to Gaviota.

She thinks we’ll never know. Occasionally,

and out of the blue, I catch myself

falling