Shaggy Ruff Dusky Pink

" Shaggy Ruff Dusky Pink "

by Suzán Jiván

for Lester Mobley

Flight
feathers black
but white
under primaries
brown juveniles
along shorelines
around
a yellow eye
large carcasses
tiny larvae
big cavities
hatching
through Sahara
waiting for scraps
shaggy ruff dusky pink
Bone-eating revealing
underwings raucous screams
nest linings mammalian
skin and hair canting
side-to-side feeding on hares
and dik-diks monitor lizards
drinking preening inconspicuously
hidden heavy bellies
sub-desert stick nests at rest
Wing edges red defenses
graceful descents shallow nests
semi-desert watershed
empty steppes snatched nestlings
livestock pens compulsive theft
rivers edge long crests
seizing eye rings dung beetles...