18-37



The Pangolinnet

Now if you will just keep still for a minute,
you may hear the song of the pangolinnet.
While most birds have feathers from heads down to tails,
the pangolinnet's have morphed into scales:
major and minor, of course—they're quotidian;
dorian, phrygian, locrian, lydian,
chromatic and Messaien, whole tone, Hejaz.
Whatever he plays, he plays with pizzazz
as he hammers it out with his claws and his beak.
I wish I had the pangolinnet's physique!

by Esther Greenleaf Murer

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Esther Greenleaf Murer is a relic of the twentieth century who took up poetry writing in her dotage. She published a collection, Unglobed Fruit, in 2011 and has been featured in The Centrifugal Eye and KIN.