The Bird Man

1.
I am the bird man and Alcatraz is everywhere
Inside my parents’ spare room,
Inside a complex of condos,
Inside a kushy Orange County,
Beneath too many power lines and towers full of coded info,
Spouting raw voltage like a fountain of electric cancer,
Sounding under the lapidary rhythm of loud Pacific waves,
Secret numbers told in the muffled fuzz of white noise:
Saying in snide catch phrases
Variations of one theme:
“Consume or be consumed.”

2.
I choose neither and build my library instead,
Making of Alcatraz a sanctuary and bed—
A place to pray and a place to stay.