in Kenmore
on a white picket fence
the round robin with such delicate feet
watched me come closer
turned its head
this way and that
then flew off
to sing his song
somewhere else
in Antequera
there is a megalithic dolmen
leading down into the dark earth
– closed on mondays –
so the rainy monday i went
no-one was there
and when i went down the tunnel
under the big dolmen rock
the iron gates were shut
padlocked
tanqat
cerrado
in spite of my angry shaking of the bars
* * *
when i gave up
turned to go back
i saw
as if waiting for me
at the end of the tunnel
outlined against the light
standing between me and the bright outside world
a big
black
dog
* * *
i stopped
not afraid exactly
no not afraid
though i did think of Cerberus
at the gates of Hades
to prevent the dead from leaving
but Cerberus had 3 heads
* * *
he lifted his big head
this big black dog
looked at me
turned
loped off
elsewhere
as if to say
‘no this is not the one’
he had only 3 legs
the front left leg missing
* * *
before i could move
before i could breathe out my pentup breath
before i could take a further step
the dog was replaced
by a hoopoe
a bird i had always thought of
as purely mythical
a bird i knew from books
pinkish brown
black and white wing stripes
downward curving beak
something to do with the underworld
this was the first one i had seen
really seen
when it saw me
it snapped out its ragged crest like a fan
and took off
flew off with a curious looping flight
like a butterfly
* * *
next day I returned
took this picture.
