Bestiary

Magnificent Frigatebird

74 Magnificent Frigatebird Slapdash of waves. White onyx moon. Sea turtles crack out of shells beneath the sand while overhead ocean birds, like ampersands, punctuate the sky. Conjoin, conjoin. They link earthbound sentences – How long to walk on this ground? How short our stay? – during that man-o’-war struggle between the dirt and air. Which part to keep? Which part to give away? I celebrate your birth, stretching out half a century, while you read outside the sea grass hut, minutes before the end of day. Perched on the deck, interrogating the sun, I look up. Above, a Magnificent Frigatebird hovers mid-air, his silhouetted shape, a tilde symbol. Beneath his superscription we’re grounded, transfixed, as if his swung dash marked this spot on the sand or else transformed the articulation of every limb. 75 As if we were some notes on a keyboard waiting to be altered into a sound or chord never practiced. I try to read the horizon. Your voice roots out my name. 76 This page intentionally left blank. ...