The Road Runner

Large and angular bird
Like a hood ornament
Strutting just past the door,

Almost impossible
For those of a certain
American era

Not to think of in terms
Of a cartoon bird drawn
So poorly, nothing like,

So that’s the meaning brought
To the present creature,
And it’s not just bringing

And making of meaning,
Assigning of meaning,
That’s striking, it’s how much,

No, how little, really,
The meaning has to match
The object, this spiky

Desert bird, half handsome,
To the trickster cartoon
Symbolizing escape

From that would-be trickster,
Coyote, predator,
Acme of destruction.