attributed

opportunistic, swoop and snatch at everything soaking. all things exquisite not-just
any-gull enchanted. we lower guilty heads when gone overboard
or forgotten, the carrion whale, an uncommon temptation but halting.

race-track divers break sixty easily. also drown
or freeze due to mouthfuls.

usually endemic but we aren't. protected and highly. fathom
no less than four meters, willfully. not-just any-gull will
congregate. but we do, in the thousands along ragged island edges,

to catch without release the spawning salmon. adapted toes, or adept aging.

our territory or graces passed through tense
suppers of missing members
yet unmet. scatter down and welcome

important guests. in the proper place of birth. sound surrounds along arm
high tree any-gull could perch guard of. voraciously. return to build over.

nestle. larger than any others

wailing disrupted, the meteor shower. not-just any-gull paused. gravely

that new silk blouse blown away due to light, an omen for sure.
claimed specifically and watched carefully. busy with visionary

moments. not-just any-gull interrupted as an emblem to seek and live up to.
run out on things to say. on bright yellow feet and bright irises. taloned
while identical, but not-just. undistinguished in plumage consternation.

any-gull twenty-five percent more of everything

except luck. to reach a different sort of maturity,
not-just approval. omen morphs into weight bearing. a preference
for bodies. greater circumference and depth. brittle shells cannot withstand brooding,

biomagnified. meals of old poisons, not-just any-gull has died of. small percentages.
naturally selected as otherwise. unsterile birds take turns

clutching, staying put. take. turns just eagle-eyeing to drown out or succumb.
preyed on, quickly become an apex predator. not-just
the wild knows this

tributary.

Copyright © 2010 y. madrone All rights reserved
from Columbia Poetry Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission