thick knees

Some people call me ‘thick knees’,

But, the middle joints of my long yellow legs

Are not excessively large, in my opinion.

My legs match my unblinking yellow eye

And compliment my camouflage plumage.

Some people call me ‘stone curlew’,

But I’m no sort of curlew at all.

I have no long curved beak

To probe mud for tiny crustaceans,

And I sing no plaintive song,

When I do aviation.

My call is like a hinge squeaking in the wind,

Or two rusty knives scraping together.

Few people ever see me

As I sit low among scrub and stones’

They have to seek me out

With high powered telescopes.

Then through a lens you can look at me

And I’ll look right back at you,

With my yellow unblinking eye.

Call me all the names you want

Even use Latin too,

I’ll just give you a yellow-eyed stare,

Because that’s what  I do.