Marsh Waders

Barnacles building skyscrapers
on tortoise shells litter the Annas Bay
shoreline where blue herons stand
on a single leg, cracking crustaceans,
plucking mollusk’s from sand and mudflats
feasting on alewife herring and small fish.

surfing on high tides
crabs skuttle across beaches
bait thieves nibble feet

Both solitary hunters and flock feeders
herons scan shallow waters and behold a liquid
looking glass where they admire form and figures
groom heads and feathers with middle toe teeth
then compare regal carriages to sickly snowy egrets
calling “Wok! Wok” enroute to nightly foraging sites.