Ourselves Woo Yourselves, Pretty Bird
He got into a box of miracles and stole three. With the first he made it so no one would know he had run away.
With the second he made himself a human boy forever.1
With the third, he made
you, Bird, made good, up for all
bad birds before you
He’s the Eternal Child, the god who was missing2
emu, bird of pray,
infertile easter egg is hatched
Aves Maria
He’s the divinity who smiles and plays. The New Child who stays where I stay3
Birthday bird. For you,
the sun: a big cake lighting
the whole lucky world.
Gives one hand to me. And the other to everything that exists4
a bird in hand—send
me an emu right now right
now you’ve made the world
And so we three go along whatever road there is5
Across continents
ages, species, we’d find us
birds of a feather
Skipping and singing and laughing6
you are the silver
lining in my cloud, emu
we flock together
And delighting in our common secret7
common passion flames,
dies, renews. No emu you,
rather a phoenix-
Notes:
1(Fernando Pessoa as) Alberto Caeir
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Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis and Caleb Adler
Ourselves Woo Yourselves, Pretty Bird first appeared in Spork.