Ange Mlinko
 

Where we'd recently lain,

exchanging a kiss,

stork consorted with crane,

limpkin with ibis.

Was this as much wedding

as there would ever be,

the fowls' foot-webbing,

the identificatory

ring around a throat?

Exchange of earth and air:

not a vow but a vote

of confidence a feather

might tip by a single scale ...    

That one's a raconteur,

so much salt in his tale;

this one's a countertenor,

lilting above the feast.

The archon of his hectare

 -- spotted -- spotted least.

Here's a little heckler ...    

penciled seagull in the margin.

Following line by line

the path you took, I imagine

no print so fine.