Face mask, not for others

The flock of gulls at the parking lot,
one wearing a face mask around her neck,
not a souvenir from a day's trip;

she doesn't even know how she got it,
nor does she care for it, even annoying.
She's seen them on humans
that makes her blush to see it on her?

Someone, please take this off me,
she pleads to the clouds,
that seemed to laugh at her.
Passing wind only tries to snap it loose.

This is published in The Avocet, a journal of Nature Poetry, Spring 2022.
© Byung A. Fallgren