I could watch mine all day long.
He has the most interesting habits.
Sometimes he just sits in the corner and chatters.
Sometimes he jumps up and rattles the bars.
If I hum, he sings to me.
If I feed him olives, he spits the pits into perfect little mounds.
Saturdays he wakes up and immediately cleans his cage.
Sunday mornings he sleeps in.
On walks, if he sees another Italian coming towards him,
he gestures with his hands and makes funny faces.
He’s very discreet about relieving himself.
He won’t go out at all unless his hair is perfectly combed.
I could swear sometimes he’s laughing at me.
Whenever the kids come home, he waves them over.
Sometimes he stays up all night, waiting for them.
After he eats a big meal, he puts his hands behind his back
and walks in circles.
Sometimes, for no reason at all, he just starts crying.
He’s older now, but you still have to watch him around a female.
His hair is gray around the muzzle, but it makes him look distinguished.
He shivers a lot and smiles when I put him in the sun.
If I show him a map of Italy, he claps his hands, then sighs.
Sometimes he sounds like he can talk.
My wife is convinced he can say ?I love you.?
Published w/ poet’s permission
George Guida is the author of four books: The Pope Stories and Other Tales of Troubled Times (Bordighera Press, 2012), New York and Other Lovers: poems (Smalls Books, 2008), Low Italian: poems (Bordighera, 2006), and The Peasant and the Pen: Men, Enterprise and the Recovery of Culture in Italian American Narrative (Peter Lang, 2003). When not writing, he teaches English and creative writing at New York City College of Technology, and co-edits 2 Bridges Review.