the most ferocious animal in the cookie box

we make a pit, dig it deep
put spikes in the bottom
then cover it with branches and leaves.
some one must go to the river
to tease and lure it this way

a dangerous job, for its
is a terrible beauty, fearsomely sharp
from a distance. up close
the razor cuts without pain.
but nearsighted. very nearly
blind. the one who goes to the river
runs crashing just far enough ahead
to avoid the crush. we hunt them

for the horn. it fetches food & weapons.
we take the feet, the toenails, the ears, the lips.









***








when i grew up, animal crackers
didn't have a prize inside . they had a shoestring
handle . you could carry pebbles, insects
pennies in the empty box/ garishly painted
with bars and wild teeth. . we play zoo
keeper, ringmaster tasting the glimmer of obeisance
and the snap of invisible whip

became the torturous deity, biting off hooves
and rhino horns. long
giraffe necks if we can
find any that aren't
already broken like hearts
at the bottom of the box.













()


there is a full moon in the sky tonight
the river glows like it holds the milky way
or the inside of a lover's smile. the one
who goes to the river must not have fear
for fear makes mistakes , misses.
when dawn comes
the whorls retract into ears
the ears become music, the music begets
a quick burst of quasar, the way love leads
the hunt away from the pit. the one at the river
slips from the bank, into the water, onto the back
of the ferocious and grotesque beauty
settles in , ready to swim.