That solitary common eider
desires water, bathing;
blue-white sun
reflected from
breached inlets.

A thoughtful child
gleans pearl shellfish
in the boreal daylight.

Her wings of brine
weave sails of fire.
Hammers echo in the clouds.

Light escapes
immense October.

This unveiling
I have made,
competitor of stillness,
chronicles just out of vision:

bird
       and spirit
                        merely.

Charles Haddox lives in El Paso, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, and has family roots in both countries. His work has appeared in over seventy journals including Chicago Quarterly Review, Commonweal, San Pedro River Review, and Stonecoast Review.