Poetry Report: The International Gesture
“like a bird taking off
from a glass table’s crystal aviary”
There were many factory disasters and building collapses and massive invasions of privacy this week and somewhere people in charge were having drinks on a patio.
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The International Gesture
There is an international gesture for dismissal.
On any nice day, on any patio
the owner of anything will wave his hand
like a bird taking off
from a glass table's crystal aviary.
Look for it. The gesture is unmistakable,
The hand flapping past the palm trees of his shirt,
its five gangly limbs
framed against the Corona beach umbrella.
The guests laugh and the steel drum plays on,
the owner will launch this thought bird
off the end of his fingertips
out over his shoulder, out over the Bay
to the far side of town where flames
are just beginning to lick
the sides of his shiny processing plant.
This is where this gesture likes to fly to.
This is where all the flightless live,
working hard behind locked doors.
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