Chop

Workwhelmed again. Time to reach for a poem - and a picture. Yes, it's a Kay Ryan, and to get the full sense of this one, you need to bear in mind a specific meaning of the word chop, as a Chinese stamp of authority, authorship or ownership - the ultimate chop being that of the emperor, expressing his incontestable will and power.

Chop

The bird

walks down

the beach along

the glazed edge

the last wave

reached. His

each step makes

a perfect stamp -

smallish, but as

sharp as an

emperor's chop.

Stride, stride,

goes the emperor

down his wide

mirrored promenade

the sea bows

to repolish.