#sandpiper

Spotted Sandpipers

Sandpiper

The roaring alongside he takes for granted,

and that every so often the world is bound to shake.

He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,

in a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake.

The beach hisses like fat. On his left, a sheet

of interrupting water comes and goes

and glazes over his dark and brittle feet.

He runs, he runs straight through it, watching his toes.

--Watching, rather, the spaces of sand between them

where (no detail too small) the Atlantic drains

rapidly backwards and downwards. As he runs,

he stares at the dragging grains.

The world is a mist. And then the world is

minute and vast and clear. The tide

is higher or lower. He couldn't tell you which.

His beak is focussed; he is preoccupied,

looking for something, something, something.

Poor bird, he is obsessed!

The millions of grains are black, white, tan, and gray

mixed with quartz grains, rose and amethyst.

Willet (Tringa semipalmata). Family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes.

Sanderling (Calidris alba). Family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes.

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes). Family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes.

Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) female. Family Scolopacidae, order Charadriiformes.

The colorful ones are the females, and the pale ones are the males.