Amy Clampitf(1920–1994)

The Cormorant in Its Element

That bony potbellied arrow, wing-pumping along,

implacably, with a ramrod's rigid adherence,

airborne, to the horizontal, discloses talents

one would never have guessed at. Plummeting

waterward, big black feet splayed for a landing

gear, slim head turning and turning, vermilion-

strapped, this way and that, with a lightning glance

over the shoulder, the cormorant astounding-

ly, in one sleek involuted arabesque, a vertical

turn on a dime, goes into that inimitable

vanishing-and-emerging-from-under-the-briny-

d e e p a c t w h i c h , u n l i k e t h e w o r k s o f H o m o H o u d i n i , 5

is performed for reasons having nothing at all

to do with ego, guilt, ambition, or even money.