Poet Beth "Batyah" Elishevah Ginzberg expresses her creative poetic meditations about water as a very powerful atmospheric element of the environment. Ginzberg wrote these poems at the East Rogers Park Lake Michigan Beaches, on-the-spot, to experientially convey the full effect of the Great Lakes of Chicago, IL USA for your reading pleasure.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

A KINGDOM OF BIRDS, FISH, AND INSECTS AT THE BEACH


Seagulls and sparrows, pigeons and hawks, airplanes and hand gliders fill the skies at the Lake Michigan public beaches. Look up into the clouds when you are not looking out upon vast expanses of living waters, and see a sky filled with life and activity!

Birds bombing the waters, flying predators taking dives from very high in the sky after circling their prey, the unsuspecting fish hanging out below, swoosh! the seagull makes a beeline dive and scoops up a mouthful of Koi fish in its beak after making about twenty circles over its head, and then finally zoning in to get its dinner and  flying off to its nest to eat it and feed it also to its young.

Happy seagulls and thriving sparrows! Sparrows all chitter-chattering and squeaking out bird calls, gathering up seeds that fall from the dune grass into their hungry open mouths. So many seeds! Cracking them then digesting the meats, tearing apart the chaff and then throwing the shell away. The dune grass produces more and more seeds. The sparrows never grow hungry, there is always an abundance to eat at the beach. The birds then fly easterly, towards the water, always natural waters for them to drink, and they never growing thirsty.

There are Mallard ducks swimming along the shores in twos--husbands and wives--bonded as mates for their entire lives. Red and green feathery rings around their long necks, like wedding bands, they are swimming together in matrimony.

Birds of every type: flocks of geese too, herons, and hawks, are flying toward the lake, knowing where to find food and water, building nests of shelters in trees along the way near a world of fun at the lakeside beach.

Dragonflies flitting on by, buzzing and jerking, back and forth, they are companions to the yellow jacket honeybees who sip Cola syrup off the tops of picnic benches. The dragonflies and bees are looking dangerous, just don't swat them, stay clear! Let them be to go about their business and you about yours, so you do not get into each others' way. Billions of insects at the beach! And bloodthirsty beach flies; cover your bare legs!

So much life at the beach: a world of birds, insects and fish, among billion year old rocks that have not yet become sand. Rocks of tan, white, gray, red, and yellow hues--different shapes and sizes--perfect to gather up for your backyard home gardens. Rocks to walk on, but no, not barefoot! Wear your thongs! Step on only sand barefoot, squishing warm golden sand between your toes instead. The sand massages my tired feet, as it jostles underneath my heel forming the perfect impression of my foot in the sand, kicking up sand as I hike on by.

Yes, activity at the beach can be fun and relaxing too. Enjoy a brisk entrance into the water, feel it chill your skin and then dunk in one body part at a time, jumping up and down in the water in vain to keep warm! Feel the spectacular sensations of the watery waves one by one caressing your body, as you struggle to keep your head above water to breathe! Catch a Frisbee and throw it back!

A day at the beach, long to be remembered as having the time of my life! Next summer I will plan do it again!

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