Doug McHargue reads her work on Setember 19, 2015 at Art of Poetry. The next event is Saturday, December 12 at Hickory Museum of Art. Please join us at 2 pm at the museum’s front lobby entrance. Art of Poetry is free and open to the public. Photo courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford.

Doug McHargue
ORANGE IS LOUDER THAN WORDS
after “Elderly Man, India” by Steve McCurry

He’s strutted all his life,
this exotic bird flaming
the world with plumage
fit for the stage he’s walked
across so many times,
memorized so many lines
they’re etched into his face,
eyes slipping a little now,
looking down that road
we all say we’re going
later.