THE PREDATOR

Remember that rattlesnake in Round Valley
thick as your arm stretched out in the heat of the sun
in the dirt, the sheen of its mosaic skin,
the tail and bulging rump of the ground squirrel protruding
half-swallowed from its unhinged jaws—immobilized,
unable to do anything but rattle—

BLUE DARNERS 

          Middle Cora Lake 

At sunrise
dragonflies

kiss the surface
of the lake

awake
and interlace

on patrol
true to role

no swerve random:
pairs flip tandem

somersaults
mid-soar—one halts

at water’s edge
above sedge

and hovers: saurian
blue face and silver

compound eyes
goggle back.