Golden pheasants
Nature invented art,
so they remind us — gripped by
their need to seed self-
copies ad infinitum:
each one a mobile Venice.
Mallards
with sequined green heads,
cobalt wing-panels, change to
feathery icebergs
while they feed from the depths; rise
with iridescent sang-froid.
Glossy ibis
So eerily red —
a Mephistopheles bird.
Nests deep inside sedge.
Just a hint of Art Deco,
with Egyptian blue-green eggs.
Lady Amherst’s Pheasants
True aristocrats —
bodies, solid as trust funds;
each tail, a poised quip.
Head-capes, fanned wide in display,
show them artfully one-eyed.
African Greys
They snub pleasantries,
obsidian eyes agleam —
each glance shrewd, icy.
If revenge were to be had,
what torture would they devise?
Corella
She swoops in, close to
the heads of the audience,
does tricks as required,
talks back with quizzical zest.
Flirty eyes, bright as gumdrops.
Bleeding-heart pigeon
A crimson stab-wound
on its delta of sluiced red —
a living symbol
set off by plumped beige, flinty
grey: the shades of schadenfreude.
Greater Bird-of-Paradise
Once, on boughs near clouds,
acrobatic moves all day,
the flounce and flick of
plumes — yellow, airy silver;
many ticks on the dance card.
Azure-winged kookaburra
An old chuckler with
summer skies emblazoning
his wings; the browns of
wattle bark and river dirt:
an uncanny completeness.