A Portrait in Flamingo, and Other Oddities
“Fill my head with audacities”
Audacity.
Anomaly. Curiosity. Idiosyncrasy. Irregularity. Peculiarity. Incongruity. Quirky. Rarity. Oddity.
What a word, audacity is. Surrounded by synonyms that make a writers’ heart sing. But extend that word, follow the trail of letters and where do you end?
Eccentric. Outlandish. Strangeness. Unconventional. Unnatural. Freak.
Odd, isn’t it? These hierarchies of words. These trails of words that we use to define this phenomenon we call life? Phenomenon, as in rare occurrence; a wonder, I am told. Perhaps it is within the spectacle that words are born to craft our knowing of life, because isn’t life a spectacle? A rarity? It makes one wonder, don’t you agree?
What a ramble, what a wandering thought!
I digress.
But I do love the words.
A while back I visited the zoo, hoping to see the new polar bear swim - but, on both days, the polar bears were not feeling very audacious - more like somnolent. Which, I suppose, if you are a bear - that is your right. Disheartened - I left the polar bears to enjoy their pleasure in disappointing the cluster that had gathered - hoping to glimpse a polar swim.
In my wandering, I found myself held captive by a pile of blushing pink. Warm fuchsia tinted with hints of cool coral and the startling hue of a rose mid bloom, lit by a bold sun.
Forget the polar bears, can we talk about the flamingos?
Peculiar creatures - oddly shaped and weirdly limbed. Beady eyed and slightly cross looking - yet so full of… something. The something of which I have yet to define. I could sit there - leaning on the ropey rungs and stare at them for hours. I found myself lost in the contours their bodies created - caught in the late morning light. Such an ugly bird - yet the metamorphosis of their comely lines into an unusual and mesmerizing symmetry - was simply, audacious.
I wonder… what other oddities could I find?
Well,
let me tell you,
The zoo is full of curious personalities. Allow me to introduce you to the long-necked soul who enjoys walking on stilts, gracefully moving through shafts of dust speckled light. Someone, who would not be out of place drinking tea and cavorting with the Cheshire Cat in Wonderland. Or, meet the one who dons fanciful stripes - an insane trendsetter, but what better to hunt you with, my dear? Oh! But don’t forget to say hello to the one who’s eyes are rimmed in scale and, if you allow, would beat out the Evil Witch and her apple in an episode of ‘Whose Poison?’ Or - how about the one balanced on a limb - bright eye against muted tones, quietly watching the zoo below. Reminiscent of the once fierce predators that graced our world only to fall by a giant flaming rock - colliding. Lastly, I must introduce you to a small puff of grace, whose beauty is cloaked in mundanity, before she quietly paddles away.
Perhaps this walk was simply a walk in a simple zoo.
Or.
Perhaps this walk was a walk in which my head was filled with audacity.
