crane, drake
and cane brake make
the dace-lack lake with its deep dark jaw

prey guts girded by sweetest steak
crayfish flesh and clam shell fresh
why osprey claws the spray
possum parts pulled unarrayed
when vulture vaunts the car-tarred ways
pitch pines tent the sky’s blue vault
where herons pick at pike and gar

whether beak breaks
or talon takes
liver, seed, cattail reed and all
give the glutton grackle craw
its prickly pear, its snowshoe hare, its
owl pellet
that mouse’s bony port of call

nightjar, rake
crake, crackling daw
caw caught out of crow’s bright jaw

caracol-spiralled eagle slip
clasp of cloying lover’s grip
now free fall
free fall
free
fall