{"id":404,"date":"2007-08-16T17:24:27","date_gmt":"2007-08-16T21:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/2007\/08\/16\/to-a-courting-ostrich\/"},"modified":"2007-08-16T17:24:27","modified_gmt":"2007-08-16T21:24:27","slug":"to-a-courting-ostrich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/to-a-courting-ostrich\/","title":{"rendered":"To a Courting Ostrich"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should I be flattered or dismayed
That you kneel before me
And sway your long, red neck from side to side?
I watch the dust ascend from your feathered wads,
Called wings, resembling polishers
In a car-wash,
While you shut and open them… for what?<\/p>\n

“Deprived of wisdom” is how the Bible
Ironically puts it.
Deprived of a brain, more like: your head,
Compared with your body,
Is minute. Are you a kind of dinosaur? –
It’s a miracle you’re not extinct.<\/p>\n

Dear, oh dear! You have stood up anew
To show your thighs
And to strut before me, like some old misshapen drag-queen
In a child’s tutu, while waving your plucked
Protruding rear
Embellished by a single, wilted plume.
I think it’s time they returned you to the wild.<\/p>\n

                <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Jerusalem
12 May 1996<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should I be flattered or dismayedThat you kneel before meAnd sway your long, red neck from side to side?I watch the dust ascend from your feathered wads,Called wings, resembling polishersIn a car-wash,While you shut and open them… for what? “Deprived of wisdom” is how the BibleIronically puts it.Deprived of a brain, more like: your head,Compared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michaelpeach.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}