How did this majestic and beautiful bird
That has a keen eye for catching fish
Become a symbol of our aggression?
Painted on the work vehicles of local
tradesmen. Stealing him off his branch
where he and his chicks would have made for
a beautiful postcard. He is taken and
recomposed in paint onto the backs of colossal
trucks. And he has lost the innocence by this
taking, this taking of his more quiet personality,
and being pounded down, restructured, into a third layer of muscle for man. He is no longer the bird he was,
he is stripped of his more graceful side.
He has become a creature no one would
let visit their yard, filled like a dragon
with a mouth that throws spitballs
of fire.