Translated by Michele Hutchison


Callinago callinago - Common snipe

In the marshy field wading birds stitch grass
to the earth’s underlay  

one of the birds ratchets itself up
a fan of quills vibrating in the air
the sound of thrumming feathers

rustling through withered tussocks of sedge
swiftly escaping a rasping beak
both of her wings pointing upwards like arrows
a salvo of pecks launched from simple clefts
the nest already open in the quaking bog

the second snipe ratchets itself up
wing-strokes parallel and rising
the response comes on four wings

heads catching the breeze in bursts
...