Birds

Cormorant

The Chinese put a ring round your throat
so they can steal any fish you’ve caught

through your quickness – today in the distance
I see you turn your zig-zag neck and beak

into an eyelash, a black arc slipping
the grey wave. When you are too light to dive,

so I read, you swallow pebbles for weight.
Last summer, I saw five of you form the shape

of a star, drop in formation, cutting the sea
as if it were paper, and you characters

in an Oriental language, writing of the heft
of the water you part, the cost of the fish you yield.

9th December 2009