ANTHOLOGY OF MASSACHUSETTS POETS (22)

    RED ROOSTER in your gray coop, O stately creature with tail-feathers red and blue, Yellow and black, You have a comb gay as a parade On your head： You have pearl trinkets On your feet： The short feathers smooth along your back Are the dark color of wet rocks, Or the rippled¹ green of ships When I look at their sides through water. I don't know how you happened to be made So proud, so foolish, Wearing your coat of many colors, Shouting all day long your crooked² words, Loud . . . sharp . . . not beautiful！