The Cage He Lives In
They call him "Shy."
I call him that, too.
He loved the yellow canary, Tweety,
So naturally, I chose to be Sylvester, the cat who hunts him.
By night, I imagined myself as Rocky, sprinting through the marketplace,
Mimicking the snatch of an apple someone tossed my way,
Fleeing alone through nights where I tried to grasp the phantom cheers of a nonexistent crowd.
He adored his younger brother—a gentle soul who introduced himself as "wicked."
He often talked about the three of us going to Disneyland or catching an NBA game.
And I, of course, longed to see him.
At twenty-six, Shy’s back was always stained with clamorous gazes and lewd traces of lip balm.
Seeing his beautiful face and sensual lines,
Some spat out their forbidden desires without filter.
He sang with a voice as soulful as Jamie Foxx,
A kind man who listened well to others,
But amidst the envy and jealousy, he chose not to be the protagonist.
Instead, he chose to be a retreating figure, barely glimpsed in a rearview mirror.
Leaving behind the 'security' of Safety Management,
He climbed instead into the driver’s seat of a worn-out taxi.
On the day he was born, I happened to step into "1942."
"Hello. How was your day? I’ve crossed paths with some incredible passengers today."
A voice I had never heard before chirps incessantly.
"I’m a little man in a golden taxi,
Michael Little Chamber’s my name, but I don’t know my age.
I don’t have to worry, and that is that,
I’m safe in here from that irrational world!"
Suddenly, he asked,
"Do you know Tweety, sir?"
Answering distractedly while staring out the window, my ears turned toward the driver’s seat.
"…Sylvester’s friend."
“Well, do you think a cat and a canary can truly be friends?”
The air around me froze. A rhythm began to leak from his lips:
Tweety tossed an apple to Sylvester,
But Sylvester didn't care for the fruit at all.
He only chased the yellow feathers of Tweety, endlessly.
The man I call "Shy."
He is chirping, trapped in a cage he built of rearview mirrors.
I wonder—who does he have in mind when he thinks of "Rocky"?
