Shorebird song.

Shorebird, pick me an oyster on the rocky coast. Find me a mollusk. Kick me some sand. Orange bill jutting from a charcoal head like a snowman’s carrot, fading into plump feathers of chestnut brown.

I see you in desultory flight, invisible hands of air at the moment of lift. Soar, then glide.

Pink claws delicate against a pile of mollusks the color of charred blue jeans, texture like shards of kiln glass. Waves crash on serrated rocks, foaming at…