Diane Cluck: Macy's Day Bird

the perfume of her hangs in the air
like an atmosphere
promising thunderstorms
the windows cracked letting november in
but her body beneath these blankets warms me
her hair in wet feathers
pressed to her head
the washed out splendor of
macy's day parade
glitter and tinsel
are clogging the drains
causing a runoff that's flooding the city
she gives me her red rhinestone ring
that fits only my thumb
and i wonder
was it her ex-husband's or father's or someone's
cheap souvenir
from a somewhere he took her
i decide i won't be a gift to her
so i wear it for awhile
til' it gives me a rash
i am not sentimental
toss it in the trash
cos' i don't care
if she likes me
or not
if she likes me
or not
i don't care
if she likes me
or not

she was marching in the macy's day parade
in a row of dancers decked out in the rain
women in heels executing military drills
goosestepping in lynchpin six inch stilettos
towards central park
where the mud from its meadows
runs into the gutters
all glutted
with pink ostrich feathers
the plumage that falls
from a macy's day dancer
answer me
it's raining
crowds run for cover
shoving complaining
streets full of women
that beg you to praise them all
and their lashes
and then slowly raise them
they'll stare you down
and then turn away
but when they're hunting you
can't you hear their eyes saying
do you like me
or not
hey do you like me
or not
hey do you like me or not

camera crews leave with rain on their lenses
we leave
with the first ones who befriend us
i've followed the holes your heels left in the mud
while behind us the city was starting to flutter
hair in wet feathers
blue blonde and red
the washed out splendor of macy's day parade
hair in wet feathers
pressed to her head
the washed out splendor
of the nest i made
with sheets strewn over with sequins and trash
cast off by parades that have already passed
and i am not the first
this role gets recast
the macy's day bird
calls out from her nest
do you like me
hey
do you like me
or not
hey do you like me or not
hey
do you like me