Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Andy Brown

FROM FIELD NOTES

FROM FIELD NOTES

FROM FIELD NOTES

Towards the river’s seaward turn the flow is slow, meandering. Wide tidal flats at the sea’s low tide support a spread of hungry birds. Silt brought down from inland fans the delta, between the reeds. Here molluscs & crustaceans breed. To the eyes of walkers on sterile dunes, where only the lonely skylark nests in monotonous marram & shifting sand, the estuarine mud-flats seem a bland expanse. But to hungry oystercatchers the casts of worms & clams are treasured finds. They stun their prey with single stabs. Shell duck, eider & avocets scythe the rich mud. Glutted, they roost inland, waiting for the sea to ebb. Knot flock in thousands where the eel-grass Zostera grows. Duck, Dunlin & Brent Geese gather. I note these quietly in my field book…
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FROM FIELD NOTES

Towards the river’s seaward turn the flow is slow, meandering. Wide tidal flats at the sea’s low tide support a spread of hungry birds. Silt brought down from inland fans the delta, between the reeds. Here molluscs & crustaceans breed. To the eyes of walkers on sterile dunes, where only the lonely skylark nests in monotonous marram & shifting sand, the estuarine mud-flats seem a bland expanse. But to hungry oystercatchers the casts of worms & clams are treasured finds. They stun their prey with single stabs. Shell duck, eider & avocets scythe the rich mud. Glutted, they roost inland, waiting for the sea to ebb. Knot flock in thousands where the eel-grass Zostera grows. Duck, Dunlin & Brent Geese gather. I note these quietly in my field book…

FROM FIELD NOTES

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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
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