Birds In The City Poem by Aj Anwar

[- -of Jakarta]

There are no birds in the big city
except for the ugly and the mute and they are very few

Yes there are birds in the big city
locked up inside pretty cages, fed and cared

it might take some thousand years of evolution
for birds to start detaching their wings

they might as well grow better beaks for pecking
better sound skill in imitating

they should be adept at conversation
they are better companions for some
even better loved than the sons

city birds were the colonized people before
they are now model prisoners

people in the city really love to play warden
and better wardens indeed they are in caging

you should just embrace the truth of your sentence
city birds, you are all in for life, parole

that you once heard circulating
is not more than a hoax, an urban legend

Jakarta,19/1/2017