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June132008

Pigeons in the Grass Kick Ass

Filed under: Looked Into   Tagged: , ,

classicalpigeons.jpg

Our friends in Rome, from a recent visit.

Martin, who has done some lovely flights of pigeon reporting himself, just let me know that according to Gothamist, it’s National Pigeon Day today, and here’s the pigeon post from those eagle-eyed swifts at City Room. I don’t want to hear any boring cliches about winged rodents; these are our birds, and we’re all living together trying to peck out a living in this pitiless metropolis, so let’s show our fellow citizens a little compassion. And appreciation: They’ve got a beauty and gumption all their own. (John Tierney knows so, too.) Cast not the first stone at a beaked neighbor, lest you be shat on in return!

So, to paraphrase Pogo’s Churchy LaFemme, Friday the 13th comes on a bird’s day this year.

Comments

Pigeon day? What next ? Cockroach day? I like drawing them because they’re yucky and filthy and aggressive and therefore amusing and observable in a way. But I don’t like ‘em.

I know, isn’t it strange? In theory, all the time you’ve spent looking intently at them so you could create those intimate and lovely portraits might have increased your appreciation for these much-abused native New Yorkers, instead of furthering your desire to stay as far away from them as possible. But I know, I’m in the minority here. I don’t really expect to convince anyone, but I’ll keep tooting my little kazoo.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of keeping pigeons in the abstract, here’s a recording of a fine pigeon poem from the new issue of Taddle Creek.

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