April 10, 2004
Roger Williams Park

 

This is stranger than it looks at first glance. Driving up, you think, "oh, look. What a nice bronze of a naked guy falconinging." Not a clever thing to do naked, but then...how many hobbies are?

Look closer, though. It's an eagle, and it's not flying to his wrist. He has grabbed it by the feet, presumably snatched it out of the air. And he's balled up his fist and his right arm is cocked back to punch it a good one. No kidding. I walked around it several times.

I googled around trying to find out if there's a back story, with no luck. It's dedicated to Elisha Dyer by his grandson. Dyer (assuming it's the same one) was a mayor of Providence, and a Civil War vet. But I don't think eagles were especially emblematic of the South or anything.

What an American is supposed to make of the symbolism, I haven't clue. Generally speaking, We don't take kindly to no eagle-smackers 'round these parts, Son.