Gemmed Jeremiah Vituperating in Japan
The pheasant screeches on the village roof.
The startled hamlet is transformed, not by
The gorgeousness or by his squawk; the proof
That transcendental beauty needs the cry
Of ugliness to set a splendor far
Apart is shown by this one jewelled shriek
Upon the gray black tiles. They shine bizarre
Against magnificence of feathers sleek
With screaming loveliness. The peasant tiles
Await just such a piercing moment as
They sit forever in their rigid styles
Expecting something like Dixieland jazz.
..The pheasant cock alights upon the gray
….Concavities desiring prophets’ bray.
~ Phillip Whidden