Sparrows And Flinches is a fragment by Jack Rusher, published here Monday, January 07, 2008. It is part of Stories.
The cycle of life.
Matthew sat in a padded leather office chair, swirling ice cubes in a glass of his father’s bourbon.
1. Literally taken from an incident in Mr Bird’s life, and a figurative reference to the environment.
The finches and sparrows build nests in my chimney / what remains of the small flightless birds that you failed to protect1
The room was dark, save the light from a giant flat-panel monitor, on which was displayed Matthew’s father’s Sent Email archive, through which Matthew was sifting. A new folder called “Mistress Missives” was slowly growing on his father’s desktop.
2. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:28
3. The Lataband Pass is 40 km from Kabul. Lataband, meaning Mountain of Rags, gets its name from a belief that wishes will be granted to those hanging bits of their clothing in the bushes of this mountain.
but their yolk isn't easy in fact it’s a drag2 / as they’re blowing through cornfields and mountains of rags3
“Leave me here while the family’s in Bermuda?”
all over the suburbs / across the great lawns / crop-dusting gardens all over this town
“What kind of douche-bag calls himself the ‘CEO Father’, anyway?” Accountability? Anyone can fail a semester at school. What kind of accountability has he maintained?
4. Colloquial, “pestering.”
5. From an interview we know that he refers to cremated remains in particular, andpollution in general.
6. Some online sources suggest that Mr Bird is referring to efforts by himself and others to champion environmental causes as a form of pestering about which no one cares.
but nobody cares when it gets in their hair4 / it gets in their lungs as it floats through the air5 / it gets in the food that they buy and prepare / but nobody cares when it gets in their hair6s
Taking a break from his work, Matthew clicked play on the Blogotheque Take-Away show of Andrew Bird performing Spare-Ohs in northern Paris.
[ The reader is asked to pause here, watch the video, then continue. ]
7. Portmanteau of “crest” and “precipice?”
8. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” — Matthew 5:38, ultimately from the Code of Hammurabi.
9. See: footnote 1.
across the great chasms and schisms / and the sudden aneurisms / where the black ink will drip across the crespice7 of your / eyes and your teeth are worth more than you can spare8 — oh don't tell me that it just isn’t fair / don’t speak about the cycles of life9 / ’cause your thoughts are so soft / I could cut ’em with a spork or a bride’s knife
Maybe it was the bourbon, or the music, or being alone over the holidays, but he started to tear up.
and the wine made our mouths too loose / such a reckless choice of words / when you tell me that I'm too obstruce / I just thought it was a kind of bird / I just stood there not saying a word...
Just as the video was ending, the phone rang. He lifted it and heard a grave voice speaking from a great distance.
... not saying a word ...
“Hello?”
... not saying a word ...
“Matthew Barnaby?”
... not saying a word ...