The Cormorant
by Pierre Joris
is back,
one came as if called
— I did and I did not —
young, slightly hasty
movements, but an eager
steady beat like the best
drummer around, steady
line southward too,
just fifty yards off
shore & straight}
down along it all the
way around the slight
bend at the 80th street
bridge, not so fast
young bird, I tried to
say to the cormorant as
I walked faster but re-
assured saw its f light curve
& dip just as I reached
the bend, clearly landing
& I got there 2 minutes
later, scanned the surface
for my bird, couldn’t see
the long neck, waited in
case it had gone under
to catch dinner, counted
the seconds to 136, but all
there was now was a
gaggle of ducks or
whatever you are supposed
to call 20 plus ducks
floating on the Narrows
Wednesday 10 January 2018
around 3:25 in the p.m.
& I didn’t see the young
cormorant again, gone South,
probably belonged to the
Verrazano Bridge tribe their
settlement just a bit more
than ½ mile further along
— or maybe it was hiding
among the ducks like
Achilles was it among
the young girls and I no
Odysseus out to find or
to trick him out — no
ball to throw, no knees to
close or open — this here
& now is a different
world even though
sea & land here too
mix & link.