<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 46px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto; line-height: 1.35;" class=""><font size="4" style="font-weight: normal;" class="">What the Starling Said</font></h2><div class=""><font size="4" style="font-weight: normal;" class=""><br class=""></font></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.73; caret-color: rgb(25, 25, 25); color: rgb(25, 25, 25);" class="">The European starling,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">meanwhile<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">more American than most<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">on two legs<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">but without benefit of a hyphen<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">to prove cross continental citizenship<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">sat high on an electric wire<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">mellow buzzed breeding plumage<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">off Loud<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">weed cloud upward wafting,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">sagged cutting catty-corner between<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">what was 38th and Chicago Ave—<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">soon to be named for the human<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">no longer in existence—<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">shook its yellow-beaked head<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">unbelieving<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">reshuffled spangles<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">sun sheening<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">on immigrant iridescence<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">knowing the status<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">of being neither<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">served nor protected by law<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">or gifted benefit of any doubt<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">or common decency,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">and subject therefore<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">to the<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">same suffocating ends<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">as the corpse<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">crumpled in the street,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">before whatever little “g”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">white gods<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">watch over dark hued beings,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">let loose proclamation<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">that rose above the din<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">to more metal on metal<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">raged screech<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">than smooth practiced speech,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">before joining the evening<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">murmuration in protest.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic;" class="">Sturnus vulgaris</span>,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">neither profane or dirty<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">kept vigil,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">sat murmuring<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">to the flock gathered to watch<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">organized by empathy on the issue<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">of whose existences mattered.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Clearly<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">that black life<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden;" class=""></span>did not.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.73; caret-color: rgb(25, 25, 25); color: rgb(25, 25, 25);" class=""> - Drew Lanham</p><br class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><!-- signature open --><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><!-- signature close --></div></div></body></html>