Metaphorically there’s only one, single
as the elephant whose sibling
cannot squeeze into the same room.
Other demons come in hordes,
flocks of honking geese fouling
the mown grass, nattering,
sunglass-grabbing monkeys, though
one’s enough to weight your back.
One eagle carried Ganymede away,
one albatross tormented the mariner.
Birds live in flocks, even albatrosses,
yet that extra syllable catches
in my throat like an excess of losses.