jacket? tie?

I showed off my party dress.  So the birds are ready to dance.  They’ve brought out their best.

If I could only dance with one, which would I choose?

I like that black swan brings me fetid flowers.  The book could be a gift or maybe black swan intends to read to me later.  I hope not.  There’s nothing worse than long phrases comparing odalisques to astronomical bodies, natural phenomena, or flowers.  How can you enjoy yourself when everything you do reminds someone of the moon?  I’ve been to the moon, and it’s nothing to throw garlands at.  Stop talking about the moon.  I am The Odalisque! 

Fetid flowers or… a dead branch?

The branch is for me to hold when we dance, so I don’t catch on fire.  That might be a trick, though, because Phoenix really wants me to burn.  At least if I dance with Phoenix, there is a window nearby.  I will need to stick my head out into that high, clear air, after a whirl in Phoenix’s flagrant embrace. 

Crow-as-parrot offers to lead me through greener pastures.  Crow has a message but I’ve already opened it.  Or did Crow open it first and scramble the intended meaning?  Crow wears the fool’s hat.  Crow, where are we going?

The starlings clothe themselves in the soft robes of nightfall.  It is the hour of murmuration.  Behind them, obscure.  If I allow myself to be taken in their arms I will be the space between earth and sky consecrated by their hushed, joyful swarm.  I will be the ever-evolving absence of thousands of birds.

Hawk, discretely, but superbly dressed, waits beneath an ordinary chandelier. The silk dress is for changing into when Hawk tires of leading.

Hawk carries a scarlet fan for me: when I want everyone to go away I will hide my face like ostrich sticking its head in the sand.  Everyone knows: leave me alone.

Hawk is thoughtful in that way.

I will dance with Hawk.

Black Swan, aghast, is sputtering phrases from the book.  The phrases aren’t about me or the moon!   They’re all about Black Swan!  Typical.  Black Swan, do you remember how to call out, over the marsh, the wild, mute cry of your forebearers?  If so, I will dance with you.

Fashionable birds.  See how they first made their fashion fetish known here, or click the Fashion tag for that and more.

–The Odalisque