Birds Of America: Willing - Opening

WILLING

How can I live my life without committing an
act with a giant scissors?
-- JORCE CAROL OATES
"An Interior Monologue"

In her last picture, the camera had lingered at the hip, the naked
hip, and even though it wasn't her hip, she acquired a reputation for being willing.

This book is for my sister and for my parents

and for Benjamin

... it is not news that we live in a world

Where beauty is unexplainable

And suddenly ruined

And has its own routines. We are often far

From home in a dark town, and our griefs

Are difficult to translate into a language

Understood by others.

CHARLIE SMITH

"The Meaning Of Birds"

Is it o-ka-lee

Or con-ka-ree, is it really jug jug,

Is it cuckoo for that matter? --

Much less whether a bird's call

Means anything in

Particular, or at all.

AMY CLAMPITT

"Syrinx"