notes for a bestiary
Spider
Your home-spun work won’t
go unnoticed much
longer. At least when
I’m away someone
takes care of the place.
Sparrow
Your reappearance
at my window proves
curiosity
is the sweet song that
animates us all.
Honeybee
“What business is
it of yours what we
get up to when not
pollinating your
weeds or making sweets?”
Buffalo
Heaven you hope will
be much like earth: a
grass plain to lie down
in and next to you
a pile of corn.
A rug would preserve
your tawny color
but not your mother’s
eye for danger or
your dread competence.
Today little one
your appearance on
the horizon looks
for all the world like
a second sunrise.
Mosquito
Why should I want to
sit unbothered in
my skin when to be
desired is such a
bloody compliment!
Squirrel
Your winter store of
cleverness, redoubt
of all small creatures
such as ourselves, has
never failed you yet.