Bass Rock

og is feathers, guga* down,

white clamour dampened,

distance folded shut.

rock-dark children

lose thought of land,

wash themselves white

to black wingtip:

sharp bodies

cutting trails of air

rise

to paddle dawn-slick sea,

heads yellow-blushed

and dripping.

around them we

slip shelf and

plummet, through

sky and salt,

to break

beak, skull,

on grey water.