I see the feral, reptilian intensity in a

medium-small man whose words flow butane

through thin lips, though he is not alarming.

And there are frames

falling away

from his mother’s

tenderly fuming expression.

Harmonies bathe

upon her face.

Though he does know it

yet, he loves this umbra of

hers.

He is witness to

the high grade

of animal strains.

The big, clumsy bear is surpassed

by aggression that is nothing more

than energy choking through a gland.

Night descends.

There is a stunned doe;

a heart waits for repair.

The big bear remembers,

immediately afterwards,

shaking off leaves, that he

can suction red berries from a

nearby bush, which will snap

into place with each pull.

Under a sad, beige sky,

the serpent raises her head,

as if asking for consonance with

the radial sun.

In her indirect seeking she must

be looking for a moment that will

leave her with the gentlest inner smile,

all of earth dwellers’ kindest satisfaction . . .