Caged Animal

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Generic bird inside birdhouse, without
generic birthright safely perched within.
Birdhouse feathers folded - hung diploma.
Crooked rookery. No ovary in
the aviary. Chicken house. Aroma
rises - wing-ed de-scent of doubt.
Where is the balance of power
Between the caged and the cage builder?
Here, I will give you this cage
And you can give me your right to fly.
Balance of trade.
You can have the cage for free.
Balance of payments.
Chemical imbalance.
Guano.
be careful not to mix your guano
With your drinking water, there in the tiny yellow plastic box
We would not want it to ferment
Aqua vitae is bad for you, and bad for the system, any system
Did not da Vinci teach us
that flight is a mere appurtenance to a bird
And that wings are so to flight?
Now, now, turn not thy heart into a Gordian knot, not the knot
I shall name you Jane Austen, who said,
”One half of the world cannot
understand the pleasures of the other.”
apres moi le deluge

[2004]