Endangered Species

Brad Hatfield

I pull distracted into the lot —

University of Alaska at Fairbanks —

Plash through the sooty snow.

When I uncoil from the rental car

A bald eagle glides across blue firs

Splays its grand wings and tail feathers

Into airbrakes, lights atop an icy lamppost.

I look up, it looks down.

I have a brief but perfect view

Of the broody white forehead,

Black-rimmed golden eye,

Affectless pellet of a pupil,

Grim mustard-colored beak

Hooked like a gutting knife

With a single droplet of ice at its tip.

My measure is taken without comment.

Then it thrashes air and soars south

While I shuffle inside on the salted walk

To discuss risk management.

---

Brad Hatfield graduated from the Univ. of Washington and lived in Alaska before returning to the Seattle area. He has published in Snow Monkey, Switched On Gutenberg and the WPA’s Whispers & Shouts. He was the 2008 Winner of the Yakima Valley Allied Arts Juried Poetry Contest. If there is a consistent theme in his work it is a celebration of the tenets of scientific pantheism. Brad is a Vice President of National Specialty Underwriters. He lives with his companion and their son Grayson in Mill Creek, Washington.

Return