Sea Turtle Breaking Through
Swimming and pushing hard
through the daily tightness,
teasing oxygen from the ocean
my loggerhead turtle is determined
to gain mileage and not take forever
to get safely ashore.
She must be vigilant
watch out for predators
and escape from a sea lion
to find a home
on a sandy beach and look
for a safe place to lay her eggs.
She did not burrow like a clam
on the bottom of the ocean.
Instead, she smashes
through the roaring blue-green waves.
With her bright determined body,
she is strong of heart,
breaking through all setbacks,
knowing time is running out.
If she arrives on the sand
she will haul
herself up the beach at night
and lay her fragile eggs.
Contents
Part One
Our Community of Dairy Cows//1
Oak Tree Monarch//4
Black-Capped Chickadees in Madison//6
Hunger Drives Evolution//8
Japanese Cherry Tree-Sakura//10
Lucca Biodynamic//11
Wounds of War//13
It's Complicated//15
Landscape of Change//16
Beloved Adino//18
Milford Track//21
Butterflies Rock the Block//23
A Galaxy of Worlds, Boreal Conifer Forest//24
Columbia Quindio Wax Palm Trees//26
Watching Three Blue Leviathans//28
A Geyser Erupting//30
Deacon Grave's Native Wildflower Walk//32
Part Two
The Fightback of the Kirkland Warbler//37
Black Birds Fly//38
Hiking Along to Acadia//40
Imperiled Rhythms of the Great Barrier Reef//42
The End of the Line//44
Snowball the Cockatoo Grooves//47
Family//49
Celestial Divination//51
Star Viewpoint//54
Starry Sky Connections//56
Moon Gazing//58
Hannah//59
Alyssa//61
Visit from my Grandson//63
Integrity and Dignity from Deep Within//64
Good Luck and Safe Crossing//66
White-Breasted Nuthatches//68
Our Orchard//69
Breaking Through//70
Lakewood Ranch-Another World
Altieri, Carol Leavitt: - Carol Leavitt Altieri was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up on a farm in East Andover, New Hampshire during the Great Depression (1936-1950) which lasted much longer there. The echoes of early life on the farm and the natural world enhance her poetry. She continues to explore all aspects of nature on the Shoreline of Connecticut.Other poems are interwoven with travels in the United States and other countries: Brazil, British Isles, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Soviet Union, Spain, Venezuela and Yugoslavia.Carol has completed graduate study and was awarded the Certificate of Advanced Study at Wesleyan University in 2001 after receiving a Masters Degree in English and a Sixth Year Degree in Educational Leadership, at Southern Connecticut State University. While there, she received Graduate Poet of the Year.Recipient of an English Speakers Union Scholarship, Carol has studied English literature and culture at the University of London and accepted in Yale/New Haven Teachers Institute for six years.A member of the Guilford Poets Guild, she is now retired. She has published seven previous books of poetry: The Isinglass River, In Beijing there are no Dawn Redwoods, The Jade Bower, Still Brooding on a Strong Branch, Chronicles of Humans With Nature, Parables of Passages, Hiking the Rugged Shore and now Breaking Through.She participates in nature conservation and takes workshops in poetry writing. She enjoys her grandchildren, hiking, bird watching and reading natural history, poetry and creative nonfiction. She recently won a Connecticut Green Circle Award for Environmental activism-as she worked ten years as an activist preserving the shoreline from over development. During the pandemic, she explores the Hammonasset Beach. She is moving to Lakewood Ranch for six months each winter.
