pure white black legs large flat black bills salmon-red lipstick head and neck stained pale rust from the iron rich canal a long coiled throat resonating a deep trumpet - a French taxi cab on the water
our seasonal flock of three
or four
vegetarians
reaching leaves and stems so far below the surface broad feet digging up the lake bottoms for hidden black roots pale shoots - waterweed, sago, milfoil and duck potato�
cygnets feeding on water beetles small crustaceans a few weeks 'till vegan
we mate for life. By two or three we court in the winter - swimming synchronicity, bills dipping, blowing in the water.. her and my duet
we nest before the ice melts - near water and plants, dense privacy� plenty of room to take-off�
every year a new nest near a muskrat house a beaver lodge build a moat to see - eight feet across three feet above the water
a month she'll sit - i swim nearby, i guard
fluffy pale gray covers the cygnets in a day or two they'll follow behind
we break them shoots let it floats to the surface - we still lose half of them
five months until lessons to fly - another week until we all have to go
there's so few left of us
poisons, hunters, power lines, most of our lakes are gone - so we come here. Providence
a river lined with rock
we keep an eye on all the people on the shore�
