Industrious Man

30 January 2012, Port of San Francisco

In the shadows of commerce

a man hoists a tethered cage until

it clears the ferry terminus rail

Stabbing at a meaty blue claw he

snares the crab by its swimming leg

to yank it dangling from the trap

A seagull with one good eye left

sidles like a streetwise poacher

but the industrious man is resolute

He flings the catch into a mayonnaise

bucket in his shopping cart before

departing to an undisclosed location

Where a once-celebrated chef

hunches over a restaurant grade

jalapeno can on a makeshift grill

The can slowly bubbles up heat

and the industrious man

is poised to boil the crab