Birds On A Wire

The birds hung heavy
Packed shoulder to shoulder upon a wire
Strung between two telephone poles
On Route 22 Westbound.

A corridor of high trafficked
Suburban shopping sleaze.

Sleepy’s, Super Saver Liquor, Red Tower...

Every once in a while
A piece of trash would be carried in the wake
Of a passing semi
Flapping by
Amongst the grit and exhaust
Twenty feet up
Like a drunken bird bretheren.

The wire actually
Dipped a little
From the weight of
The Blue Birds
Pidgeons
Crows
Seagulls
And Sparrows
Marking a heavy dark line
Across the short stretch
Of gray sky.

One of the crows
Passively shat out
A yellow and white mixture
Of piss and shit
While cocking his head
To his cohort
On the right.

“Gotta light?”
He asked
Cigarette fidgeting
In his rostrum.

“Sure.”

The first bird
Held his wing up to block the wind
As the second bird
Struggled with a Bic.

The smoker
Took a few quick pulls
Getting the tip glowing.

He let a relaxed plume
Of smoke from the Camel Light
Escape from the nares
In his beak.

“Thanks.”
He said.

They watched the steady
Stream of traffic
Below them.

An ambulance
Slowly
Snaked it’s way through the
Eastbound traffic lane
Sirens alive.

By the time
The ambulance had passed
The old crow was almost
Halfway done with his
Cigarette.

“Jeezus! That gave me a fukkin’ headache!!!”
He stated.

“Could be worse.”
The other commented.

“Could’ve been you inside that ambulance.”

“True, dat.”
He replied laughing.

“Hey, Joe...speaking of trauma...what do you think about marriage?”
“Things ain’t great at home and I was just wondering...”

A bird on the left leaned in closer...

“Hey! This is a private conversation!”
The crow snapped.

“You wouldn’t want me to accidently burn you with my cigarette?”

Joe waited
For the third party bird
To get back to minding his own business.

“Fuckin’ Finches!”
He commented.
“They’re ALL nosey bastards!”

“You probably wouldn’t want to hear what I hafta say about marriage.”

He went on...
“I mean, if someone would have explained to me that monogamy, actually means
infrequent sex, if any...I would NOT have gotten married. You hear other birds make
jokes about it, but this shit is real!”

“I know what you mean.”
The first said
Following his words
With a thoughtful draw
On the fast-burning
Butt.

“Im trying to hang in there for the kids...but, I AIN’T getting ANY.”
“The lady drinks too much and gets loud and sloppy.”
“All’s we do is fight. If you could have an orgasm from fighting, my balls would be empty.”

“When I get home from work...I’m just putting out that day’s fires.”

The bird to the left
Accidentally
Leaned into him again.

At that point
The crow purposely
Pushed his cigarette
Into the feathers
Of the finch.

“Hey! Watch it!”

“I told YOU to watch it!”
The crow rasped.

“Now you knocked the cherry offa my cigarette...”

“I can’t help it if this wire is so crowded.”
The finch offered angrily.
He brushed ash off of feathers
Inspecting for any burn damage.

“Look”
Said the crow...

“I haven’t gotten laid in years, and when I did...it was sub-par...so, I’m not in a good mood.”

“Don’t fuck with me!”

The finch turned back
To what he was doing
Ignoring the crow
Acting nervously.

Traffic was starting to build up
Due to an exit
A half a mile up
That congested
Into a shit-show
At this time of day.

Horns started interrupting their conversation.

“She used to be beautiful...up for anything at anytime...but she’s really let herself go.”
He rambled.

“Then there’s all these hot young chicks out here...makes me want to get back in the game!”

“We ain’t dead yet!”
Joe rallied
Puffing up his chest.

“There’s some Chinese partridges running an Oriental Spa about a mile east of here that
my friends have told me is a jack-shack. We should go over there sometime soon and
get a massage.”

“Ha! What sweet relief that would be! I’m in. How much you think?”

“$40.00 tops. If she’s REAL nice ya might think about leaving a tip in case you wanna go
back.”

The first crow smiled to himself.

Outward
It wasn’t very noticible.

But inside
He was smiling.

He could handle forty bucks.

“Yo brother...can I get that light again?”

“Sure.”
Joe said.