Poetry in Motion
San Francisco
from Lost Coast
Jennifer Elise Foerster
from Lost Coast
On a treadmill by the window at 16th and De Haro
I name pigeons, high wires, green car,
blue. There must be other names
for metal boxes, electrical labyrinths
rigged across the sky. Other names
for blue. Other than sea.
Not all birds that live in the city
are pigeons. Not all are birds.
I strap myself into the rowing machine.
What an exile.
What dry land, wet air,
flowers breaking through windows.
An excerpt from Bright Raft in the Afterweather by Jennifer Elise Foerster. Copyright © 2018 Jennifer Elise Foerster. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press. Muni Art 2022, San Francisco Beautiful, sfbeautiful.org. Poster design by Deirdre Weinberg.