The Isolation of the Albino Peacock in Spring (J. Armstead)

She doesn't recall
how she came to this place,
but it had something to do
with the unfettered nervousness
of uncontrolled flight

...and the cascade of many tears

fears?  nerves quivering
like birdcalls
across a sizzling
livewire
pain?  fresh heartbreak
expressed in a very loud
ear-shattering cry

...mating song for the unbeautiful

...flitter, quiver, tremble, quake,
fearful and aswim, cutting through air
like fractured ice
crossing a mountain lake...

Stunted, her wings are unblack
like reflected chrome,
haunted by the sheen of polar blue.

Anxiety and Anonymity
on parade,
these mirror-faced hens,
hybridized in captivity,
she can't remember,
it's all flash-cut imagery --

It is a Wardance of the Forgotten Flock.

Her markings are all
optical interference,
silvered nothingness,
broken nanostructures
in the barbules
of dying feathers

She sits in silence,
knees drawn to chest,
in the tiny room,
enforced seclusion,
listening to the metronome
of her heart's beat,
she is gray and plain,
her extravagant plumage
robbed
of its
iridescence

The wings of this Nightbird
eclipse all tomorrows'
rainbows
*************************************************

Image courtesy of Dreamstime Photographic Stock: "Peacock" by OxygenWorks, (Helen Koshkina), dreamstime_240822.jpg

Comments

[princess butterfly (kai)]

this is a lovely poem.

[aurora]

Strong imagery, and such a unique perspective to this poem. One of your best, Joseph.

[steve]

draws the color right out of sight, leaving plain agony. Royalty gone wrong at a fundamental level. well done - thank you for this one, Joseph.

[matt]

"...mating song for the unbeautiful" sums it up. Good write Joseph.

[Robert]

Enjoyed.

[Felicia]

Aren't female peacocks the plainer of the sexes anyway? (smile)