Crane

How much time on our knees is sufficient

for mercy? Neck strained upward

toward the beamed ceiling, the stained

sunlight. What happens when knees no

longer agree to bend, or worse--

when the refuse to unbend? They say birds

always know where they're going

and when, except for when they don't and

men, in a crane-like plane, must guide

them through their migration. There

is a fine line, it seems, between a bird

and a machine. There may come

a time when I can no longer

distinguish between the trumpet-

like mating call and the rumble of chains

and sheaves, the Crane

Duet Concertina. How much can be

folded from its naked two-dimensions

crease by crease into a mimicry? A

bird that rests on the corner of

my desk until I run out of notepads and

my pen needs something

to scratch.