Joan Canby

Joan Canby
 
The week after human beings had departed Earth:
 
Day One:

At Rocky Nook Park the pond relaxed
for no visiting narcissists had arrived.

Day Two:

Sea lions and dolphins encircled
San Miguel Island unchanged.

Day Three:

The volcano on Mauna Loa erupted
not one pelican blamed Pele.

Day Four:

Morgans, Appaloosas and Quarter Horses
cantered down Benson’s Pass then grazed.

Day Five:

At noon Stonetop Mountain’s shadow
crossed Deadman’s Valley.

Day Six:

On Highway 101, littered by vacant cars,
seagulls perched and contemplated.

Day Seven:

Parrots, canaries and cockatiels sang not
longing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

 
 
 
Joan Canby worked for 30 years in Corporate America for Hughes Aircraft, General Dynamics, Ericsson, and Nortel Networks where she was a technical writer and then a project manager in training. Her poems have been published in California Quarterly, The Hawaiian Advertiser, Illya’s Honey, Texas Observer, Forces, Beginnings, New Voices, Cape Rock, Voices Project, Brevitas, Broken Plate, Main Street Rag and Thema.