Black eyes gaze at me from across the stream
fur, black, damp, glistening
a smart person would run
a smart person wouldn't come here in the first place
But I'm not a smart person.
Ursus americanus, I'm in your domain now
sharing this place
holding space
you could kill me in a heartbeat.
I'd guess you to be about 200 pounds, a yearling,
and I'm assuming that's your mother just several yards away.
She'd love to be rid of you, you know, as you've overstayed your welcome.
I'd stay close, too.
This world offers nothing but pain and heatbreak.
But tonight we connect
dream
and somehow call forth something archetypal
before we were made to be enemies
before we had to fear one another.
The sun sets over the soybean fields
scarlet skies hovering in the horizon.
Coyotes howl.
