April 4, 2007: the mockingbird, Charles Bukowski
the mockingbird
Charles Bukowski
the mockingbird had been following the cat
all summer
mocking mocking mocking
teasing and cocksure;
the cat crawled under rockers on porches
tail flashing
and said something angry to the mockingbird
which I didn’t understand.
yesterday the cat walked calmly up the driveway
with the mockingbird alive in its mouth,
wings fanned, beautiful wings fanned and flopping,
feathers parted like a woman’s legs,
and the bird was no longer mocking,
it was asking, it was praying
but the cat
striding down through centuries
would not listen.
I saw it crawl under a yellow car
with the bird
to bargain it to another place.
summer was over.
[In this class I’m taking, a girl was talking about Bukowski and said apologetically, “I know he’s kind of cliche,” and my professor said, “we should all be so lucky.” True! I think he can be hit-or-miss, but this is so on: “it was asking, it was praying,” and bargain as a verb at the end there. Really effective with so few words.]
More like this:
startled into life like fire, Charles Bukowski
Jubilate Agno, Christopher Smart
A year ago: Part of Eve’s Discussion, Marie Howe
Two years ago: i thank You God for most this amazing, e.e. cummings
