{"id":405,"date":"2025-11-16T05:16:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T05:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/?page_id=405"},"modified":"2025-11-18T00:29:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:29:43","slug":"the-grey-bird","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/poetry\/the-grey-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gray Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Carrigan<\/span><\/p>\n

After \u201cFind the Gray Bird\u201d by Saya Behnam (medium: different botanical and mineral pigments on paper with 24k gold leaf)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She should be easy to find in the vapor.<\/span><\/p>\n

All the bursts of saffron and hibiscus <\/span><\/p>\n

should make the gray of her plume<\/span><\/p>\n

stand out in this space.<\/span><\/p>\n

My eyes are continually distracted by<\/span><\/p>\n

the flecks of gold leaf throughout. <\/span><\/p>\n

Are these her eyes, or are they her talons?<\/span><\/p>\n

I try to look deeper to see, but then<\/span><\/p>\n

I notice what appears to be some wild plants<\/span><\/p>\n

that have managed to cut through the fog. <\/span><\/p>\n

I see the dark bend of their stalks,<\/span><\/p>\n

the full shape of their leaves, <\/span><\/p>\n

close enough for me to reach.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then I notice I\u2019ve fallen too deep<\/span><\/p>\n

into the painting, the scent of all<\/span><\/p>\n

the crushed spices and flowers making me dizzy.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not until I cover my mouth and force myself <\/span><\/p>\n

back out of the frame that I realize the gray bird<\/span><\/p>\n

was in the middle of the painting the whole time, <\/span><\/p>\n

with gold leaf making a crown upon her head<\/span><\/p>\n

and a gold rose ensnared in her talon.<\/span><\/p>\n

I should have found her quickly, but anyone<\/span><\/p>\n

could miss her if they give themselves to<\/span><\/p>\n

the roiling clouds that perfumed out of the frame.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nAlex Carrigan After \u201cFind the Gray Bird\u201d by Saya Behnam (medium: different botanical and mineral pigments on paper with 24k…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “The Gray Bird”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"parent":322,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-405","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405\/revisions\/409"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}