Oystercatchers

OYSTERCATCHER

Blakeney Point

The officious eye,
. the black and white
. severity come
. off-set by an orange
. beak that pokes
. and meanly probes
. a shifty underworld
. up to the hilt.

The inquisitor
. drags out a gobbet,
. carries it a few steps
. to the nearby creek,
. rinses mud away
. and swallows to assuage
. this hungering
. after squirmy truth.

Bob Ward