Ann Sheppard
VICTOR KULKOSKY
Survivor
I don't have the math
to calculate the odds,
how a sea turtle,
shell cracked,
flippers drooping,
could come so close,
only a sheet of glass
between us that day
on Jekyll Island.
He, an injured survivor
taking refuge
in a new home
and me, a survivor,
taking refuge in libraries,
nature sanctuaries
and museums.
Maybe the only survivor
in the nest, the turtle
followed the light
of the full moon,
enormous at its perigee,
to the ocean, passing others
who slipped and tired
in the shifting sands
or fell prey to seagulls.
I know the turtle’s mind,
the impulse to survive.
for I have lived long
in my sanctuaries,
I have lived to tell of it —
how the most stalwart
of living things will find
their way to light.
Victor Kulkosky
Bio: Victor Kulkosky recently retired from a more than twenty-year-long career in community journalism, during which he covered local government, education, crime, culture, and school sports. He made special efforts to cover girls’ sports and less-popular sporting events. In his retirement, he is undertaking a systematic study of the Bahá’í Writings as well as pursuing his interest in creative writing and photography. He is cautiously exploring how to weave the Bahá’í Faith into his creative work. He spent the first half of his life in New York City and now lives in Fort Valley, Georgia. He has journalism degrees from Fort Valley State University and the University of Georgia.
