For Mrs. Savage, 1967
By Scott T. Starbuck
She was eighty-six and I was five
near Golden Avenue
in Hermosa Beach
sharing homemade lemonade,
photos of Model Ts,
horses and carriages.
“I’m the last,” she confided.
“We are more than bodies,” I replied.
When she died, I,
the closest person to her,
wasn’t invited to the funeral
by adults who trashed
all my watercolors
I had given her
of sharks and flowers
which were really
about them
and the human condition.
Vancouver, Washington resident Scott T. Starbuck taught eco-poetry workshops the past four years at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in UC San Diego Master of Advanced Studies in Climate Science and Policy Program. His book of climate poems Hawk on Wire (Fomite, 2017) was a July 2017 Editor's Pick at Newpages.com and selected from over 1,500 books as a 2018 Montaigne Medal Finalist at Eric Hoffer Awards for "the most thought-provoking books." He has an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University, and his Trees, Fish, and Dreams Climateblog at riverseek.blogspot.com has readers in 110 countries.