The Ravenel Bridge

brings an instant gush of

happiness, this measure of wanting

to live, feeling joy surge at the sight of

a steel bridge, not a shape of nature

like a heron launching into flight

or a pelican sinking like a hull into a wave

these two silver peaks strung from silver wires

silver ropes against the blue sky

everyone in Mount Pleasant who heads

anywhere east every day

must catch a glimpse of it, how long for how many

before it becomes invisible

as Canada geese, mockingbirds, & crows

become invisible & worse — irritants

for being shits, bullies, & thieves

like the dozen black vultures feeding along Old

Jacksonboro Road . . . the driver, when I call

her attention to them, says, Oh yeah

they’re all over . . . miraculous

pterodactyl survivors

like the great blue so sure of its safety

it doesn’t stir when dogs & toddlers pass by

the feet pulse the bird body forward —
slowest metronome, rhythm, not sound —
then strike, then swallow

the sleeping gator lies as if it is already

nothing but an expensive shoe, not one

you want to wear for best, amaryllis

sepals wrinkle their way to release

the stem a monument to water & fiber

cherry pink cedes to leaves of yellow green