Still Blue

Still BluePaulet Island, Antarctica By late December, most of the colony had already found its rhythm. The older chicks have their legs under them, have learned the particular urgency of the chase. These two hatched among the last, which means they are new to everything, including this. The parent has walked back from the water's edge carrying the meal the way Adlie penguins always do, held inside the body rather than in the beak, warm and ready. One chick

the set of the jaw

It was windy and cold

The one that changed everything

round and low

She rolled across the ground toward us with an almost theatrical looseness

outmuscled

A precise upward toss

I chose black and white because color here would have been noise

there was a hike to the top of Kuwohi

The Sabi Sands in the green season has a particular quality of light

In the particular vigilance of a creature who has learned that knowing where the danger is matters more than running from it

for most of their lives