ZOE DICKINSON

fledgeling

day by dry day
lack makes things lighter

I walk the bluff
desiccated
as the cat’s-ear seeds
that leap in swarms
into the sea

under my feet
the bluff evolves
from landmass
into a curving wing

day by day
plants shed water, growing
hollow as bird bones

tasseled grass ripens to feathers:
seed spikelets turn to barbs
and barbules, hooked to catch wind

poised on Pacific precipice
a mutant bird of grass and stone
unfolds its wings
and waits for a gust
to take flight