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Galápagos
by Kate Kingston

blue-footed
         red-beaked
panorama of bird scape

island evolution
         Darwin in my ear
whispering

the trill of mockingbird
         mocking
the landscape of mutation

red-variegated crab
         red-footed boobie
red-throated lava lizard

tropic bird, red-beaked
         striated wings
swallow-tipped tails

basalt outcrop seeded white
         by guano, polished
to a marbled glint by sea lions

I too am a mocking bird
         feathers and hollow bone
I sing ariettas and catch

the updraft, glide with frigates
         their black vee-shaped wings
forking sky with the grace

of drift, how we all migrate, mutate
         survival of the fittest
anaphora of reproduction

not unlike the tortoise's shell
         durable hide
its pattern of trilobites and calderas

or the geometry of web
         silk harness
cephalopod center

or the red eye of the dove
         stare of the short-eared owl
sustained focus

not unlike my song
         that coasts towards Quito
on a quetzal feather, finds me

hiking the volcano, Cotopaxi
         climbing its mollusk coil as snow
melts beneath my bare blue feet


 

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