All the World Seems in Tune on a Spring Afternoon

When performing, I need to be both present and absent.

I could agree that Whitman needs a rest.
A flushed pheasant

is not what I want to impersonate,
nor a pheasant fully dressed.
When performing, I need to be both absent and present

in the flesh, so to speak, recent
vagaries addressed
of flushed pheasants—

no way to remain decent
(and in the park, no less).
When performing, I need to be absent

in my presence and present in my absence,
the load in front of the butt on my chest
all shot into a pheasant’s

tender breast, now exhibiting its entrails—
all done at no one’s particular behest.
When performing, I need to always yell “Absent!”
when I'm flushed like a pheasant.