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Roy Ringer with U.S. Sen. Pierre Salinger, c. 1966. Ringer was press secretary to the man who had been J.F.K.'s press secretary.

“The Anchovy and the Pelican,” a poetry book by longtime Malibu resident Roy Ringer, has been published by Emeritus College, a division of the Santa Monica College, and is now available at the new Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu.

A veteran of prolific careers in journalism and politics, the book is just one more addition to his dossier of lifetime accomplishments. Ringer began as a cub reporter at age 17 at his hometown newspaper and later went on to work on metropolitan dailies in New York and Los Angeles in positions ranging from drama critic to editor. During the 1960s he worked frequently as a media specialist in presidential, senatorial and other political campaigns as well as wrote speeches for Gov. Edmund G. Brown and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Ringer’s journalistic career concluded with a 10-year stint as an editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times.

He and his wife, Vivian, live on Point Dume where they raise their own fruits and vegetables.

The following is a poem from the book entitled the same, “The Anchovy and the Pelican:”

Along the coast this time of year

Flights of pelicans appear,

And skimming low in perfect Vs,

Scan the shallows for anchovies.

One glint of silver and, as one,

They hurtle seaward from the sun,

Splash awkwardly amid the spray

And swiftly slaughter their teeming prey.

The anchovy, all unaware

That death is lurking in the air,

Observes the pelican on high,

And wishes it had wings to fly.

Admires the pelican’s swift descent

Out of the bright blue firmament,

And then no dream of flight suvives

The pelican folds its wings and dives.