Parrot:Swan

Name his remarkable qualities they are things he detests: flamboyance /

repetition / a splatterpaint wingspan. This habit of overcommunicating

which led him to announce in the company of swans he was always a

spotlight / never scenery. If he held a tinge of envy in his voice the

birds heard only boasting. Had they looked closely they would see

where he had torn the feathers from his chest until his thumping

dancing heart looked fit to fly from under cellophane skin. How close

must they stare to find the swan-shaped longing / the desire to ride

water like glass? The choice to dismantle / to unmake always a

temptation when in his mirror there’s a crayon-box wishing to hold

garnets and gold / a clown striving to dance Coppelia. His doctors

would medicate him for avian dysmorphic syndrome / have him

unearth his every feeling but he doesn’t keep his appointments. He

knows better than anyone that talking will not subdue his neons / will

not iron flat his curved beak / will not make “exotic” anything but an

outstretched finger meant not for perching but for pointing with a filthy

nail.

Swan:Parrot

Certainly he’s vicious / no one expects it of graceful him. Certainly the

water cradles his lean body in that expected way as though legless he

were a gliding thing / a cloth pushed on glass / a wordless January chill.

Vanity and viscousness cast a desirable glow the glow of others’ desire

/ ice burns hotter than flame don’t you know its smooth lines disguise

any threat. Taffy-long neck / his pillowed chest / muted colors as

vintage as they are demure. A film noir actress tried to pose with him

for a photo shoot / he bit her thumb scarlet. He builds himself from

action not appearance / what other silent choices he can find.

Someplace in his composition hides a voice / beaky resonance and

blackened tongue stifle its meaning. Swimming in circles / gliding out

letters feels to him like shaping word and word on water. Patterns and

patterns spill secrets across the lake in case someone takes notice / in

case some attentive someone learns to read ripples before they lull and

calm and fade.