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“The Bird With The Coppery, Keen Claws” by Wallace Stevens 🇺🇸 (2 Oct 1879 – 2 Aug 1955)
Above the forest of the parakeets,
A parakeet of parakeets prevails,
A pip of life amid a mort of tails.
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(The rudiments of tropics are around,
Aloe of ivory, pear of rusty rind.)
His lids are white because his eyes are blind.
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He is not paradise of parakeets,
Of his gold ether, golden alguazil,
Except because he broods there and is still.
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Panache upon panache, his tails deploy
Upward and outward, in green-vented forms,
His tip a drop of water full of storms.
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But though the turbulent tinges undulate
As his pure intellect applies its laws,
He moves not on his coppery, keen claws.
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He munches a dry shell while he exerts
His will, yet never ceases, perfect cock,
To flare, in the sun-pallor of his rock.