1. Unfolding into Art
I once heard a bird imitate
the sound of a chain saw,
then a camera’s click,
followed by the raucous copy of its nearest neighbor.
The bird made his own stage,
a hill of dirt, where he fanned his tail
and unfurled his perfect performance.
All the other birds were amazed.
They cocked their heads, wondered at the sound.
Yet what happens
when this song on the hill is over?
No longer mimicking others,
what does this artist sing?
Is there anything else
he can fling
at the sky
with equal intensity?
And what if he does? Will a flood of feeling
make it art? At the end of an outpour
will he ask the age-old question,
Is that all there is?
Will he experience loss then,
bereft like a faded season?
Or is the end of imitation just an opening?
What if his sudden silence,
his standing alone on a makeshift hill
was the opening for art?
How might it happen here
for anyone
who carefully unfolds feathers
and a small sound. It could be
like this. Art could be
here among us.
-first published by Alliterati Creative Writing and Arts Magazine, 2012.