Pigeon Politics

When one hears the word pigeon, we naturally think of stout birds, wiggling their way from bread crumb to bread crumb waiting for the sudden stagger of a stranger’s leg so they can break and take flight. The word pigeon also refers to an adaptation, an evolution and a breaking of a chrysalis as in pigeon language. To watch a pigeon is to understand the process of being a hungry lion lying in wait, sifting through tall dried grass, inching your way closer to a breathing meal. Pigeons are naturally distrustful of other living things, though quick to eat your discarded bagel or nibble on forgotten fruit, they remain wary of the possibility that one day, we may stand up and eat them. There are places in the world where pigeon is part of the everyday diet, I wonder if pigeons there are as docile. The cautious, guarded, yet evolutionary nature of the word pigeon brings me to an interesting question; are we witnessing the end of pigeon poltics?

The nature of pigeon culture dictate that the fattest pigeons usually eat the most, they usurp most of the surplus food, they intimidate smaller pigeons and scare them from their bounty, in the roost they take up the most room and chase out underlings with their bilious stature. Sound familiar? AIG was built on pigeon policy, they exacted change around the globe simply by gobbling up as much as they could and forcing the small folk out of their roosts. They waddled their fat, expensive asses all over the backs of the working class and cackled or tweeted, twittered or whatever when they were bailed out. The fat pigeons feeding themselves when the smallest birds are starving to death.

However, it is in the tradition of adapted language and the recontextualization of words, phrases and specific pieces of policy that pigeon interpretation will eventually reform the twisted system to which we have been shackled for so long. Our cooing and cawing had silent screams for fifty years and finally, it seems, our day of being fed may come again. A day when the largest pigeons can wait their turn and watch the tiniest bird eat first. Tiny birds, wherever you are, I know you’re starving now, I know you’re without a roost, many without jobs, without hope, but rest assured, this is not the fault of the current administration, it won’t be resolved without this administration and if it weren’t for the pigeons exacting change, evolution and revision at this moment, this great nation would starve indefinitely; without a crumb, without a coo, with broken wings and pigeon toes.