The Eagle; Two Versions

For the seabirds

Of Spectacle Island

Fear comes

With a shadow and seven- foot wing span,

White head, yellow beak

And six-inch talons.

For us

On earth’s island

Fear haunts in many guises

Endlessly reinventing itself

For each person

In the shadow of

Something long forgotten

Imprinted, cautioned,

Remembered from

A story told about what happened, once, in this

Or another long ago

Life.

For us on earth’s island

Fear comes with a shadow

On an x-ray or MRI

And a six-inch knife.

11.

Wizened wings warp ragged rocks,

A mad flurry of filigreed feathers below,

And 51 screaming seagulls levitate.

One heroine wailing in mad pursuit

Above the back of the eagle.

Poems