3.2.2014 Bear

            a boy was eaten by a bear. the bear--if we must excuse it--was hungry  didn't know better as is true for bears and the boy was reckless    
             
         as is true for boys, thought the bear's melancholy eyes its licorice nose harmless, stuck his thin head in the bear's mouth on a dare 
                
         the bear blinked and swallowed the boy like an apple nothing left but a pair of sneakers
and the wisp of a shadow 
                
         the boy become part of the bear and the bear part boy. don't be shocked we stick our 
heads in things all the time are engulfed 
                
         shat out become part of the story, our story, this world gardened with such tales
at first the bear is our enemy
                
         how could you! we say be such a bear! then through teeth-grate and darkness we go 
down feel the bear-ness all around 
                
         the weight like a suit of old tires the torturous hunger and exaggerated gait
same next time and the next until 
                
         maybe one day we stop dying so worrisomely spread out arms legs in this
brand new robe feel earth under claw-pads 
                
         honey on bee-stung tongue we roll and shake off the old maps into a dark grove 
the furriness at last--such a coat of anguish!--

        flattering on us luxurious even the hunger now like an old friend beckoning us to a
feast--how silly we were clinging 

        to man clothes and lamp posts terrified of stick-crack and tree-squeak all this grief so shaggy
so monstrous all this love so insatiable