Tales of an urban forest

Low hoot echos in trees

night hunter warns the forest it is awake

silent glide, talon snatch, tearing flesh

A raccoon will eat a neighbor’s chickens,

kill a cat or dig through your trash.

Squirrels swirl and chase

disappear when moonlight comes;

fear the owl, the possum, the silence

of a snake that slithers in the night.

I would foster feral cats

if they ate more squirrel than bird.

A tick will seek a possum’s warm body

only to be consumed?

Crow comes early morning

has somewhere else to be

does not stay all day.

Mother and daughter walk together in the park

retell stories of the hunt and escape, nurse

wounds, smother each others will to leave the forest.

Shadows look deeper

in bright sun,

but that is just a ruse.

4-25-20