Pelicans are funny-looking on land. Then they fly and they’re beautiful. Not a two-fisted word, beautiful. But screw it. Look at a pelican on the wing and tell me I’m wrong.
I knew a former Golden Gloves boxer, an old-timer.
He was not great looking out of the ring. He’d got bald and had a belly.
One day, I watched him teaching a kid some boxing moves. It was two-fisted beautiful.
He had that uncanny left-right coordination that the great athletes have. When he shadow-boxed, he fit into his own skin like a glove.
Boxing transformed him; it was something he was meant to do. Just like flying is something a pelican was meant to do.
When you see one of these portly, jowly birds on a pier, don’t look at the sagging wrinkly neck. Forget the squat body with its short legs. Don’t write him off.
Wait’ll you see him fly.
That’s how to appreciate him, along with some people you might know.
Answer to W. Star:
It’s not deja vu. In 2010 a similar “Pelicans” post ran here. Now it only appears in the paperback, “Wild Notes—Observations over time about birds and other fleeting things.” We’ll have Amazon ship you a complimentary copy, if you’d like. Just let us know at: twofistedbirdwatcher@gmail.com. What a memory you have! You’re the reason we keep on truckin’..
Love this post. Could something similar have been here years ago? Out of curiosity, I scrolled through every post, back to the beginning. That was a trip. But I could not find this pelican story. Am I having deja vu?
It is said: All entities have their opposites, bi-polarities of Yin and Yang.
We should all fit into our own skin like a glove.
Sadly it’s not always easy.
Terrific. However, the pelican isn’t the only one with a sagging wrinkling neck and a squat body with short legs. 🙂
You had me at “he fit into his own skin like a glove.”