The bird is the word

I see that the local fishwrap has gotten around to noticing the listen bird. I've come across many variations of this distinctive graffiti on my daily travels to and from work, but the basic theme is the same. The accompanying image is, to me, the iconic listen bird.

I like the listen bird. I like how it calls to mind Poe's "The Raven" with its insistent yet cryptic utterance. I like that it has the subversive ambiguity of art: is it ugly? Beautiful? I like the idea of a bird telling us—not asking us, mind you—to listen. Impossible but somehow appropriate.

I like how every time I pass the listen bird in any of its guises, I find myself pulled inward, contemplating its strange little message until, five or ten minutes later, I realize that what I've been listening to are my own confused thoughts, trying to make sense of something that defies meaning.