​Gregg Shapiro    Fort Lauderdale    (LD)
Polly Amorous

Can you hear the parrots of Manor Grove 
over the traffic on Andrews Avenue? 
They are arguing or laughing. They are 
gossiping or singing, rehearsing choral 
numbers and solos for a concert. Clannish 
and bossy. Possessive and demanding. 
Issuing directives about predatory hawks. 
They fear no squirrel, raccoon or iguana. 

Can you find them on the branches blending 
in with leaves the color of their feathers?  
You rarely see them on the ground, waddling 
through the duck-trodden grass. Avoiding 
the yellow bamboo stalks where they stand 
out like Pentecostals at a porn shoot. Flying
in cacophonous formation, waiting for someone
to notice, perhaps write a poem about them.

Originally published in Panoplyzine