“Doctor bud a cunny bud,
hard bud fi dead”—Jamaican saying
Eupetomena
macroura
I sight you
bredren
and you are
pretty splendid
I admit
but feathered one
you roam
from the Guyanas
and northeastern Brazil
down south to Paraguay
and across to Bolivia
and Peru
so never mind you
cut a fine figure
you not exactly
exclusive
and even if you
and our Doctor Bird
fly under
the same sobriquet
Swallow-tailed
Hummingbird
and come from
the same family
Trochilidae
our Trochilus
polytmus
live in one
small place
on earth
land of my birth
island of wood
and water
Xaymaca
in Taino
long-time
Arawak lingo
so know
our wee
birdie is
rara avis
and yes
I-man
allow
I-and-I
prejudice
another thing
EM
your tails them
kinda stiff
while Doctor Bird
have tails so long
them stream behind him
when him fly
I know
in nature nothing
not supposed to be
in this kind
of competition
nevertheless
I-and-I wasn’t
amused
when I find out
our national bird
was likely
confused with you
never mind
your glittering blue
head-and-tail feathers
and your green
shoulder and forewings
you see
our feathered one is
a dramatic
emerald
not often
seen
in birdland
behold
as well
a revelation
of subtle
pink-mauve
tints
when
him
open him
wings
and is
for sure
a plus
our healer
have a
curvy
arch
of a
orange
beak
while
(I-and-I
observe direct
and not askance)
yours is
a ordinary straight black lance...
One last dread
thing
our medical wonder
have magical powers
for him is
the reincarnation
of souls
of the dead