The Qua Bird (Black Crowned Night Heron)
(Dr. Hue returns at the end of July.
Helen is occupied with Julio.
Brian, a man at I met at Felicitous
Coffeehouse, is an avid birder.
We spend Mondays at Lettuce Lake,
a wildlife refuge on the Hillsboro River.
He is more than my field guide)
filtered light
tangled up
in swampy marsh
palmetto undergrowth
cypress with knees pressed tight
this cloth of wild
where osprey prey,
one young man, one old
hold their breath
hold hands
watch and listen
for the Qua Bird
his gutteral call
suddenly silenced
as his vicious
beak in fast slash
spears a fish
he swallows whole
a holy act
of true communion
2 thoughts on "The Qua Bird (Black Crowned Night Heron)"
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I just like it!
Beautiful. Love: “palmetto undergrowth
cypress with knees pressed tight
this cloth of wild”