Black Skimmers on the Gulf Coast.(Poem)

 
Black Skimmers on the Gulf Coast 
 
Rynchops niger 
 
   The afternoon increases as it wanes 
   And Skimmers, which are named for what they do, 
   Fly low above the water where they strain 
   A living morsel they don't need to chew. 
   Their liquid movements and ecstatic cries 
   Embody what is lingua franca here, 
   A place where Name and Motion compromise, 
   That is, a promise of remaining near. 
 
   But sea birds have no use for being named 
   By homo sapiens, ostensibly 
   In times of greater care for what was framed 
   When even Man was named more sensibly. 
   What matters is the movement of ...