#17

The Stairs’s Dream

written by Mathias Svalina

All the birds are invisible. It’s a real problem. I want to help, so I paint the colors back onto their invisible feathers. As I begin to paint them, more & more invisible birds gather, wanting to be de-invisiblized. The invisible birds wait patiently down my steps in a line. Because the birds are invisible it’s hard to say how long the line is. I finish painting a magpie with magpie colors. The next bird steps forward. Because the bird is invisible, I ask the bird to sing. The invisible bird sings a black-capped chickadee song Oh, ok, you’re a black-capped chickadee, I say. Cool. And I paint the grey & white & black onto the chickadee’s feathers. And then the next bird walks up & sings an alien dorito-thrush song & I’m like Oh, an alien dorito-thrush, cool. And I paint dorito colors onto its feathers. And the next invisble bird sings a wild-minded horsefinch song & I say, Oh, a wild-mannered horsewrench, cool. And I paint the markings of the wild-mannered horsewrench onto the bird’s feathers.