firebird
FLAMINGO WATCHING
Wherever the flamingo goes,
she brings
a city’s worth
of furbelows.
She seems
unnatural by nature—
too vivid and peculiar
a structure to be pretty,
and flexible to the point
of oddity. Perched on
those legs,
anything she does
seems like an act. Descending
on her egg or
draping her head
along her back, she’s
too exact and sinuous
to convince an audience
she’s serious.
The natural elect,
they think,
would be less pink,
less able to relax
their necks,
less flamboyant
in general.
They privately expect
that it’s some
poorly jointed bland
grey animal
with mitts for hands
whom God protects.
Wherever the flamingo goes,she brings
a city’s worth
of furbelows.
She seems
unnatural by nature—too vivid and peculiar
a structure to be pretty,
and flexible to the point
of oddity. Perched on
those legs,
anything she does
seems like an act. Descending
on her egg or
draping her head
along her back, she’s
too exact and sinuous
to convince an audience
she’s serious.
The natural elect,
they think,
would be less pink,
less able to relax
their necks,
less flamboyant
in general.
They privately expect
that it’s some
poorly jointed bland
grey animal
with mitts for hands
whom God protects.
Kay Ryan
Kay Ryan, “Flamingo Watching” from Flamingo Watching (Copper Beech Press, 1994). Copyright © 1994 by Kay Ryan.
(over to you, m. ghost)
(over to you, m. ghost)
Labels: ballet, carl thiemann, carton moore-park, Gustave Adolphe Mossa, gwynedd hudson, kay ryan, l v carroll, norbertine von bresslern-roth, poetry, stravinsky, walter klemm
posted by lotusgreen at 6:43 AM
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