hook

after
we'd freed
the pelican
from the hook
snagged in
its mouth
we gathered
over the
body of its
partner -
who had
flown too
close, been
tangled in
the fishing
line and
drowned.
the first
of us
to speak
offered that
maybe it
had died
trying to
free the
other and
though we
all knew
that was
preposterous
we said
nothing,
our wings
folded, our
mouths
aching.

from the winter 2006 issue of One Cool Word