Birth control is to be used on pigeons in California
in an effort to combat the "unmanageable" mess
their increasing numbers are causing.
–BBC News, June 2007
The young girls, the pigeons on birth control—
safe sex in a flurry of sweatslick feathers
and frantic heat, the beaks the limbs the claws
(you should have seen the claws on those girls)
right now in California everything is blond,
everyone an angry young cliché,
even the pigeons, who can’t stop fucking in the streets
the sidewalks pressed, freshly paved, new developments
aren’t made to look old because who loves old?
not us, we hate old! shout the Older Californians
O youth, who are so wise, so lovely,
the flocks of youth who crouch on curbs,
lean against signs with wirethin bodies
and shredded hair all blond disheveled skin
each one crying out
kiss me! kiss me!
it’s not herpes it’s a fever blister
I’ve been out in the sun all day and it’s so so so
hot here.
