Entanglement

I am watching myself untangle
my earphones, my body’s walk paused,
standing on the corner of Bedford and Probert
beneath mini grotesques on the roof
of a white and grey self-renovated house,
its ghost gum swaying in the wind
as three trains careen by from different origins,
interlocking like snaking blocks of Tetris,
the passengers on board watching my body
standing there on the corner of Probert,
its fingers untangling earphones,
its eyes fixed on a missing parrot poster
taped to a telegraph pole, mind fixating on whether
the silk shirt they’re wearing (white feathers
on black) expresses their gender today,
standing on the corner of Probert, sun splitting
the clouds as a gap opens up between trains
permitting past and future to collide,
I am watching myself untangle my earphones
from the roof with the mini grotesques I crouch beside,
ghost gum convulsing in the wind, silver leaves
within reach but obscuring the vermilion
and forest-green parrot whose clipped wings
have carried it from Lilyfield to Newtown,
one dry urban tree to the next, and into my garden
from which I’ve climbed to the rooftops
in pursuit of the missing bird
whose family has arrived to shout advice
from the street, along with two firemen,
some neighbours and passers-by as three trains
speed to separate destinations, interlocking
like snaking blocks of Tetris, my body spaced out
across lightweight tin roof, mind fixating
on whether I’m capable of holding this creature
who doesn’t want to be held, sweat dripping all the way
to the sidewalk, sun splitting the clouds as a gap
opens up between trains, synapses tethered
to the silver leaves, the wild expectations of the street,
the vermilion and green blur as the parrot slips
my grasp, glides out across Bedford,
just clearing the fence to the train tracks,
clipped wings flapping but not rising,
the thud of its body audible over the screech
of metal on metal, the bright bird
feathered on the dark rocks of the tracks,
face up to the sky, for days to come,
I am watching myself untangle.