Toucan Nest

Murciélagos

98 Murciélagos Near La Selva, orange bats skim low to gaff with their hook-feet live fish they like to eat. With very long legs and enormous feet their pups wait in sea caves four months before new wings can hold them up, four months hanging around upside down, nothin’ to do. Eat it all, bones, head, tail, fins, their parents insist. They know 99 that barking with a full mouth won’t echo, won’t reveal ripples barely below the surface, flash of scales whipping fins skittery school of the colony’s next meal. At night we read promises in field guides, promises in dreams. You whir below patios, 100 skim over waves. Cousins with wings— déjà vu, don’t we know you? (Murciélagos Pescadores, fishing bulldog bats) ...