Hi I'm Dean Atta! I'm a poet, a Drag Queen
and the author of the YA verse novel 'The Black Flamingo'
(Happy acoustic guitar music plays throughout)
Granddad draws my attention to the news
the story, a black flamingo has landed on the island!
An expert onscreen explaining it is the opposite of an albino.
'Too much melanin,' he says.
Camera pans the salt lake full of pink
but the eye is drawn to that one
black body in the flamboyance.
The following evening, my beach towel and shorts dry on the balcony.
Couples on mopeds ride past the house.
Dogs walk humans before dinner.
Granddad coughs violently, then lights another cigarette.
Grandma calls us in to eat.
The black flamingo is on the news again!
I pick the dining chair facing the TV.
Granddad asks, 'Why does it matter if he's black?'
Adding, 'The other flamingos don't care.'
And I am certain what he's saying, is I love you.
(Happy music fades up)
(Music fades out)
