Living on the shore of Jamaica Bay on the edge of New York City, Dean Schabner has spent a lot of time watching brant, fascinated by their simple, modest beauty, in flight, feeding on the water, and in stillness. This poem grew from an evening with his daughter when brant were flocking, feeding for migration, from the sight of so many gathering, all so similar, yet all individuals, with their own lives. In addition to River Heron Review, his poems and short stories have appeared in The Pushcart Prize, Witness, Juniper, The Trouvaille Review, Northwest Review, The Blue Nib and other publications. He is the author of the chapbook Surf-Body (Ghost City Press, 2019).