a dove, an action

A dove flies from one window ledge to another across the street, first dipping down steeply, then recovering & rising, its body held vertically so that it seems to climb the air. For a moment before alighting it is less a bird than an action which, suspended against the tramwires, the wrought iron balconies, the dirty pastel walls, tells the truth about not just these things but everything.

—M. John Harrison