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

done 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