“Birds Labor to Lasso Cowboys”
hummingbirds can’t shake the wind from their feathers
like cowboys can’t omit the twang from their humming
birds do the sweet dirty work for themselves humming
birds feed with their eyes via traplines
loose lasso noose loveknot love-lynch hummingbirds,
no creature like the bestial humming
birds can make all the cowboys wild cowboys
want them humming
bird lassos ‘round their own necks and bellow:
‘might I sing like the mighty
nectar and twine crusted beaks humming
birds can maneuver ropes while sucking sticky
buttercups and gallon hats, humming
birds refuse to acknowledge conspicuous lilacs wearing
hearts on their sleeves humming
birds seek invisible petals for their bellies
they want that which slips under the radar humming
cowboys sleep on the ground unaware
that the humming bird lassoes with a song humming
birds chirp / cowboy songs of conquest / what is rightfully mine.
This poem by Noelle Bond appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on December 20, 2004.