1/11/08
"Pretty Bird"
She's crazy
or homeless
or both
I thought she was a man
with a mowhawk
but she is a woman
with a ponytail
tearing apart the tall plant
that separates
the 'Safeway'
parking lot
from the street
occasionally
she yells something
I can't understand
but mostly she appears
to be hard at work
separating
the tall stalks
as if she were searching for something
lost
then hacking at it again
tearing
off a piece
and using it
to hack some more
she stops long enough
to spit a large disgusting blob onto
the end
of the piece
she tore
then
she bashes some more
bash bash bash
all her strength
and then reasons with someone
who is not there
she could be me
or you
if we
had no people
if it turns very dark
so dark people felt it was
contagious
what if our sorrows
like hers
had been viewed
like whooping cough
everyone running
to save themselves...
left you
alone
to reason with
and abuse
a plant
in the parking lot
at Safeway.
