— From photos by @bethanylynn1210
Bird on Keyboard
There’s a bird on piano, crumbs left for her beak,
crunchy keyboard, no melody. The bird
knows no better than to peck discordantly
fluttering its wings, and now it’s
on the computer keyboard that’s
covered with seeds, and pecking,
it being of beak.
The bird is answering emails, but
you are of arms not embracing.
[ ]
I had thought I’d
bask in the sun
lay you down, but
you phone called in bed
while we made love, said
you could only multi-task, squealing
moans in the phone, taking
a shipping order
saying, “pump”. A
screaming screen cries
bird on my keyboard
———
[Derived from this previous poem:]
Multibed Down
There’s a bird on my keyboard
crumbs for her beak
crunchy board
no emails. The bird
knows no better
than to peck
fluttering its wings
but you are of arms
not embracing
I had thought
I’d bask in the sun
lay you down, but
you phone called in bed
while we made love, said
you could only multi-task, squealing
moans in the phone, taking
a shipping order
saying, “pump”
A screaming screen cries
bird on my keyboard
stocks have crashed
— Douglas Gilbert
