COAST WEEKEND READERS’ POETRY ‘Loss of Habitat,’ by Linda Hoard NORTH COAST SYMPHONIC BAND Nesting killdeer weeps its voice across the hillside, scuffi ng its feigning wings. Red-tailed hawk shadows young rabbit frozen beneath umbels of lace From Sea to Shining Sea Mowers stubble the meadow. For practice, fi refi ghters blaze the vacant house, blast it with hoses and poles Guest Conductor Brett Paschal Survey crews tape, then excavators scoop Free admission 7 PM, Sunday, July 3, 2022 chunks of habitat into idling dump trucks. At fi rst a killdeer stammers around the mud, later fi nds new ground for its scrap of a nest – only scraped earth, a few speckled pebbles in dry grass Its precocial young will quickly fl uff about the fi eld Liberty Theater Prelude at 6:30 PM www.northcoastsymphonicband.org 4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM And we, too, displaced from our own jigsaw tracts, adapt Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian People enjoy the sun and views at Ecola State Park. Read more poems on Page 5