Mute swans 
form pictograms from

unknown languages; write with

mango beaks on lakes;

move at will from one kind of

perfection to another.



Meditation 
Icons of the art

of now, of being nowhere

but here, they practise

pure stillness, freedom from thought.

Then hunt a little. Herons.



Macaws
A rainforest – this?

They congregate on dry boughs

under the vast dome:

bitter gossip, a cracking

silence like that of felled trees.



Rufous owl
In the night creatures enclosure
Her gold-circled eyes

become black moons when the lights,

on a time-switch, dim.

Still clear: grey beak, the striped down’s

unnecessary beauty.