Milton’s bird
sat on the brick steps. The sun had warmed
the brick so that Milton felt warm
even with the breeze. Milton’s bird
squawked. The nails of its six toes tapped
on the brick as it jumped from step to step.
Milton carved a wooden block into the shape
of a bird. Milton looked at his bird.
Two days after sitting on the brick steps
Milton’s bird would die.
It would fly away first.
Then it would sit in a tree, wondering
where it might be.
It would tap its nails against the
tree bark, squawking and hungry.
It would glide down to the grass,
in the shade of the tree, peck at the pebbles,
and choke.
Milton clipped his bird’s wings
every six months. He thought
about wings as he carved them.
He thought about arms and wings
and how they were triumphs. Milton sat on the steps
for the lunch hour. And on the next day.
And on the next the bird squawked too much and
Milton made an ugly groove in the
wood. He growled and stomped one foot.
His bird squawked. He went inside to get a piece of thick
sandpaper.
NON-CORPOREAL DISEASE
I am sorry.
You have Sub-deity Poltergeistosis.
It cannot be.
What is it like?
It is like nothing
else. You are mildly possessed.
But this only happens
in movies in fictions.
For many years yes but
science catches up.
Did Aunt Alice who
complaining of Theodore Roosevelt
talking to her in the night
also suffer this affliction?
Reports of the ghost
Theodore Roosevelt locate him
in too many states to be real.
Cannot a ghost divide himself
for whatever purpose the next life requires?
The data scientifically speaking
do not confirm such a thing.
Are the numbers telling?
Am I among a population of sufferers?
I have no symptoms.
This is common.
Perhaps I will pray.
Studies have shown three
of four prayers raise the risk
of non-corporeal disease.
Am I left with options?
This brings us to treatment
you will be happy to know.
We have pills,
many levels of.
