daydreams

I smell the things he eats on his rank breath.
The predator that's clinging to my back
can't know I fantasize about his death,
each time I'm called from pasture to take tack.
Domestication's not all bad, I know.
We used to live in fear of wolves, and bears.
Extinction's a much tougher row to hoe;
too many species are no longer here.
But bonding with new strangers every week
--each acting like I owe something to him--
presumes that I'm consistently so meek
that I'm enthusiastic for his whim.
These city-slickers staying at Dude Ranches
smash gratifyingly on low-slung branches.

signs and wonders

The typhus epidemic in LA
is fulminating for the lack of cats
who'd recognize wild rodents as fair prey.
The CityHall's been over-run with rats.
'Though Hollywood took AIDS within its stride,
no touching stories come with this disease.
No stars are flocking to the victims' side
'cause sex is so much sexier than fleas.
Garcetti may not ever live this down.
The omen's plain for any fool to see;
as mayor of this pestilential town
indelibly, it's on his pedigree.
That ocean's no safe cordon anymore;
jet travel brings the world's plagues to our door.

top angler

Unflapping, as if painted on the sky,
her pinions balanced on the April breeze
no meal escapes her glitt'ring yellow eye
who perches on the air, as if in trees.
The osprey stoops, our breaths and heartbeats pause
she exits dreamtime, very much awake.
A trout now thrashes dumbly in her claws
that thought itself the big fish in this lake.
The timeless drama, predator and prey
the plumpest sacrifice the waters give
will feed her nestlings for another day
unless fish die, their predators can't live.
To mourn this death too much would be absurd;
my sympathy's entirely with the bird.

catharsis

unflapping, crucified against the sky
her pinions balanced on the April breeze
no fleeting ripple can escape her eye
who perches on the air, as if in trees
the osprey stoops, our breaths and heartbeats pause
she exits dreamtime, very much awake
a trout now thrashes dumbly in her claws
that thought itself the big fish in this lake
the timeless drama, predator and prey
the plumpest sacrifice the waters give
will feed her nestlings for another day
unless fish die, their predators can't live
to mourn this death too much would be absurd
my sympathy's entirely with the bird

score!

unflapping, crucified against the sky
her pinions balanced on the April breeze
no quarry can escape her  scanning eyes
who perches on the air, as if in trees
the osprey stoops, our breaths and heartbeats pause
she exits dreamtime, very much awake
a trout now thrashes dumbly in her claws
that thought itself the big fish in this lake
the timeless drama, predator and prey
the plumpest sacrifice the waters give
will feed her nestlings for another day
unless fish die, what piscivores could live
to mourn this death too much would be absurd
my sympathy's entirely with the bird