Pigeon Demands

Two men sat on a park bench full of indecision.
They were being set upon by an overgrown pigeon.
He walked (if you can call it that) up to the men like he owned a castle.
These two park-bench men all-of-a-sudden had pigeon hassle.

One of the park-bench men
happened to have a small bag of peanuts
that he absent-mindedly left in his Chaps pocket
with a pinch-line of salt, gritty, now abiding at the pocket get-together.

The pigeon eyed the one man up and down as if he were a statue.
The man sneered at the pigeon, said, “I don’t like that, you!”
But the pigeon was defiant, wings on pigeon hips.
The other man crossed his legs, wet his lips.

“Squalkkk, skallkk sqaallkk skallkk allklt sqellkk!” said the pigeon.
The men looked at each other, nonplussed at this pigeon bitchin’.
So the man with peanuts tossed the bag with a flip of his wrist
causing peanuts to scatter, becoming temporary air-burst nut mix.

The pigeon let it go by kicking one peanut that landed by his fore claw.
He then shook his head while the older park-bench man
uncrossed his legs and grabbed the other man’s sleeve,
all the while with pigeon and peanut park-bench man locked in stare.

The younger man released the grip of he who trembled so.
It now was inevitable: man and pigeon, toe-to-toe.
The man who had tossed nuts to bird, removed his coat au Chaps.
The older man, for one brief second, thought of “Taps.”

Now there occurred confrontation, human arm to wing,
the pecking-beak gnawing gnarly goatee, cauliflower-ear, forehead.
Scant calm gave way to scandalous scarring and scraping of sidewalk.
The older man tried to break it up.

Within the park there was a fight, and boy, did it disrupt..
Another man got off the bench and tried to break it up.
It was discovered later on (by those who could speak bird),
the pigeon thought he swiped his nest because his sight was blurred.

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