Eagle Watching with Ellsworth
After Ellsworth Kelly’s White Curve, 1998, lithograph
We were looking across the river,
morning snow camouflaging every shape
in nearby branches, when, with no warning,
something swooped right in front of us,
its broad wings and breast descending,
then swerved sideways out of sight.
Day blind in December, you stood
blinking back luminous images
of black against white, white against black,
until that singular final frame:
the white, curved head seen from above,
that darkly extended body, below.
—Sandy Stark
