Great Blue Heron Hunting

By Michael Lyle

lithe legs
lift and light
like a slow-motion ballerina

toe-pointing
the pond’s edge
plumed head perusing
patrons to pluck

until the splendid plunge
wings spread
like Dracula’s cape
ennobling the piercing beak

raising now
the befuddled bass
fin languidly waving

until alignment
with the S-shaped neck’s
dark tunnel
gone in a gulp

every audience eye
transfixed

Michael Lyle is the author of the poetry chapbook, The Everywhere of Light (Plan B Press) and his poems have appeared widely, including Atlanta Review, Crannóg, Mudfish, Plainsongs and Poetry East. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia after careers as a TV producer/director, an English teacher and an ordained minister. http://www.michaellylewriter.com