DC Berry
FROM SCARE CROW BLISS AND THE CANCER BIRDS
Scare steals priest’s red robe,
mockingbirds come running, eyes
blazing like rubies.
Crow says, Scare, you in
hibernations? Scare says, Crow,
your black-light fuse blown?
Scare’s left eye Life, right
Death, nose crosshairs...takes aim when
Zen slaps upside head.
Scare’s breasts once cancer
gargoyles...gone...scars like lifeline
in Liberty Bell.
Christ, Buddha, Colonel
Parker—pals—spiderweb brains,
one bug equals All.
Scare’s brain trophy case,
Buddha’s smile the trophy, Scare’s
head right place right time.
Shadows dapple Scare,
provide black-and-white camo,
spies on checkerboard.
Crows flap on Scare like
robe flaps on priest running in
place from slim blonde breeze.
Spider swallows young
Chemo Buckaroo Any, now
turns flips without net.
Snap photo of me,
Scare says, so when I’m dead I’ll
still see night is blonde.
Scare—god of crow love—
his bad luck to scare crows, sing
the blues, har har har.
The shadow, says Scare
at noon, is illusion; then,
till dark, walks the plank.
Rack on elk—two swan
pugilists—they bob and glide,
all elbows smoothly.
Scare as weatherman—
morning rooster, evening crow,
parrot carves tombstone.
Scare’s without prostate
like clean used rapper’s Porsche with
out Vanity Plate.
Cancer free—bear on
back, not monkey...honeybuns,
not clanking tin cup.
Scare’s optimism
his turtle cap...wooden leg
his Zen stride disguised.
Scare plays only C-
major’s white keys—black high heels,
whites Sunday sandals.
Blue skies beat eyes out
cancer—blue skies and bluebirds
badasses of morn.
Buddha Cocktail like
Molotov, but Zen for gas
and flame trick cigar.