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Upon Freeing the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Beak-Stuck in a Screen Door
- University of Illinois Press
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76 UponFreeingtheRuby-ThroatedHummingbird Beak-StuckinaScreenDoor There’screstingQuandaryPeak,ohmountain ofthehumancondition.There’sMt.oftheHolyCross ropedinrainandfogsothickwemissed theglacialcrossLongfellow’ssonnetmadefamous foraslimgeneration’sattentionspan.There’s summitingMt.ElbertwhenDebwaspregnant, ourdaughterbaggingherfirstpeakinutero, orwasitweeksbeforewhenpartofuscrossed overtoher?ThosetimesIroseabove someotherworldlybody.Istoodattheedge, stilldo,mybreathfastandshallow, nosepressedagainstthethinscrim thatgivesalittleandthusgivesnothing, ohscrimbetweentheknownandnot, ohlousymetaphorfordeath— thisaproblemandthebeautyweinhabit, ordoImeanembody? Look,hehungthere,mybrother,beak-stuck andsun-stroked,beggingonemorechance, anthemofthosewhosighOhwaytoooften. He’dnearlycrossedoverbuttowhat? Pluckedfree,hefeastedonsugarwater, iridescentelectrictrembling,pilgrimandhomeboy. Andwhatofhiscrestedmoments? There’strumpetflowertillitsredthroatwiltssilent. 77 There’smonkshoodtillitfoldstoseeds’reprieve— howthesethingsweloveaddup,ohtweedledee, astheycountdown. ...