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A Small Tin Parrot Pin
by Thomas Lux
Next to the tiny bladeless windmill
of the salt shaker
on the black tablecloth
is my small tin parrot pin,
bought from a bin,
75 cents, cheap, not pure tin–an alloy,
some plastic toy tin?
The actual pin, the pin that pins the pin,
will fall off soon
and thus the parrot,
if I wear it, which I will,
on my lapel. I’ll look down
and it’ll be gone.
Let it be found by a child,
or someone sad, eyes
on the sidewalk, or what a prize
it would be for a pack rat’s nest.
My parrot’s paint
is vivid: his head’s red, bright yellow of breast,
and belly, a strip of green,
then purple, a soft
creamy purple, then bright–you know
the color–parrot green
wing feathers. Tomorrow I think
I’ll wear it on my blue coat.
Tonight, someone whom I love
sleeps in the next room,
the room next to the room with the black tablecloth,
the salt shaker, the parrot pin.
She is very sleepy
and less impressed than I
with my parrot
with whom, with which I
am very pleased.
Videos
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Sheet Music
Men With Small Heads (Baritone)
Composer(s): Lori Laitman
Song(s): 1. Men With Small Heads
2. Refrigerator, 1957
3. A Small Tin Parrot Pin
4. Snake Lake
Voice Type: Low
Buy via Classical Vocal ReprintsMen With Small Heads (Countertenor or Mezzo-Soprano)
Composer(s): Lori Laitman
Song(s): 1. Men With Small Heads
2. Refrigerator, 1957
3. A Small Tin Parrot Pin
4. Snake Lake
Voice Type: Medium
Buy via Classical Vocal Reprints