Scarecrow Pretends
How may I claim another’s earth for myself? My perpetual
stance invites occlusion of the senses and a certain disregard
for dignity; I flap in the breeze and bits of me scatter across
the fields. Sze asks if we know a bird’s name in ten
languages do we know any more about the bird. I say no,
but I am a species of stitched remnants and expectation,
a race of one. Genderless, my hollow name holds no secrets,
no history. If I called myself Hudson would anyone recognize
my stuffing for what it is not? What flows through my clothing
but rags, straw, the useless and unwanted. Insects and their feces.
The unearned, the unwarranted. The underclass. Folly. Design.
Gift by delusion. Does attracting more crows than I deter negate
my existence? And which am I? A river? A man? An effigy, one
perception, or another? I do not frighten, but welcome. Speak
louder, that we may ignore our insignificance, our true names.
“Scarecrow Pretends” was published in The Slag Review in January 2017, and a few months later was mentioned in an article in the Long River Review’s blog: “Scarecrow Pretends: Robert Okaji’s Metallurgy.”
One of my favorites.
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Happy to hear that!
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This work kind of reminds me of Yukio Mishima’s last poem (a tanka):
Storm winds at night blow
the message that, to fall before
the world and before men,
(by whom falling is dreaded)
is the mark of a flower.
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Some of the same flavor!
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Just beautiful words… your stuff always reads easy 😉 I love your work, keep it coming!
~ Illenius
illenius.wordpress.com
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I loved this so much! 💖
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Thanks very much!
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A lovely characterisation
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Thank you, Derrick. Scarecrow has developed quite the personality!
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Clever wording!
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Thanks very much.
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